Of Boys and Horsemen
by TheFallenSaint
Summary: Stories played a principal role in discerning the history of Remnant. From two deity siblings whom embody light and darkness, to four maidens acting as the seasons incarnate. But what of stories that have been lost? Does the progenitor of the legend fade alongside the story? Ah, but just because something is lost, never means it is forgotten.
1. The Four

Once upon a time, deep within the forests of Remnant; there lived an old witch. The witch lived all alone, atop a great hill. Her isolation was not accidental; she desired the solitude of her lonely hut in the dark forest. The witch lived in the forest for many years seasons passing relentlessly, the witch's hut receiving countless visitors. Men sought out the witch for the power she held was enticing to man. As time passed the witch's heart grew bitter, man's lust for power sickening her.

Then came four brothers who plotted to steal the witch's power. The first brother was elegant and carried with him a bow. The first brother looked upon the witch's hut and said, "She is but a frail old woman!" he exclaimed, "I will demand she give the power to me, as it is right that the fittest should possess it."

The first brother approached the witch, and with bow poised said, "Witch! Relinquish your power to me, your body fails you while I am young and fit!"

The witch looked upon him and said "I will not, you are not worthy." With a wave of her hand, the man was sent away.

Then came the second brother, who was tall and strong. He carried a sword that was chipped and worn. The second brother looked upon the witch's hut and said "I will challenge the witch for her power, and with my strength take what is rightfully mine."

The second brother approached the witch, and with sword drawn said, "Witch! I challenge you, take up your arms and contest me for your power!"

The witch looked upon him and said, "I will not, you are not worthy." With a flick of her wrist, the man was sent away.

Then came the third brother, who was pallid and thin. He carried with him a scale, rusted and used. The third brother looked upon the witch's hut and said, "I will destroy the witch's crop, and when her hunger becomes too intense I will offer her food in exchange for power."

So the third brother went, and poured wine in the soil of the witch's crops. Soon after, the crops withered and died. Furious, the witch looked upon the four brothers and cried, "Begone, children of man! Your attempts to take what is not yours will all end the same each and every time!"

Seemingly thwarted the four brothers left the witch's hut. Later that night, however, after the witch had fallen asleep. The fourth brother approached the witch's hut. He was unremarkable in all aspects but one, a sensation of despair followed in his wake. His eyes held sadness within them, like a font of misery. The fourth brother gazed upon the witch's hut and wordlessly made his way inside.

The door did not creak, nor did the fourth brother's steps resound off the wooden floor. His sad eyes peered down at the sleeping form of the witch and with a whisper the fourth brother said, "I will grant death to the witch, so that I may bestow the power to my brothers."

The fourth brother plunged a knife deep within the witch's chest. As the witch lay dying in her bed she spoke, "I will. You are worthy." She gathered the vestiges of her great and terrible power, and intoned once more.

"To your first brother I grant the power of the white horse, so that he may bring Conquest to the cursed world of men. To your second brother I grant the power of the red horse, so that he may bring War to the woeful world of men. To your third brother I grant the power of the black horse, so that he may spread Famine to the feeble world of men."

She leveled a gaze at the man, her eyes as hollow as his own.

"To you, the fourth brother I grant the title Death. I bestow you the ashen horse, and dominion over all that dies."

Thus, the witch perished. The four brothers became the four horsemen, and they rode admist the world of man. Some say the four horsemen still wander to this day, cursed by the witch's power to forever spread discord upon humanity.

"...Lameeee…" drawled a young boy, no older than six. His hair and eyes were red like fire, a bored expression etched onto his boyish features. "There weren't any explosions or karate chops or anything!" he pouted, throwing his hands into the air while falling backwards onto the sheets of his worn bed.

A warm laugh resounded, not unfamiliar to the gentle pull of a fireplace. The origin of the laugh was a man. His laughter faded to chuckles, a small grin adorning his scarred face. His shoulders were broad, though not overly robust. His eyes were a light charcoal, much like his shoulder length hair; which cascaded down each side of his face wildly. "Not every story needs explosions to be a good story, Ekri."

Ekri huffed in indignation. "Does too! Explosions are the best part of any story!"

"I don't know Ekri, I liked the p-p-p…" Another young boy's voice, soft and shaky sounded from beside Ekri. This child had unnaturally white hair, which was cut short and cropped. The boy choked on his words, before lowering his head; face bright and red. The room grew silent for a moment, before the man spoke – voice reassuring and calm.

"Take your time, Alva. Just like we practiced."

"P-par-part. I l-liked the p-part where the second brother c-challenged the witch." His words were shaky, and though he struggled the words flowed – albeit rather sloppily. A small smile worked its way onto the boys face, and the man smiled back.

A third voice entered the fray, "I liked that part too, Alva." The boy's voice carried with it an air of excitement that was infectious. "He had a sword and everything! Like a knight," He cleared his throat and forced his voice to drop in pitch, "Witch! I challenge you! Have at thee!" His black hair, which was swept to the right, bounced wildly against his forehead as he caromed on his bed.

All at once, the older man sighed as he rose out of his chair. Calmly striding over to the bouncing boy, he grabbed him by the scruff of his pajamas; holding his small form in the air.

"Settle down Lavi, you know how Maddie feels about you jumping on the bed."

Lavi simply stuck his tongue out in response, but stopped jumping the moment he was set down.

The man tousled the excitable boy's hair, before turning to the final child. This boy was the oldest, it showed as he was largest amongst the four. His hair was a pale gray, his eyes a similar color, though if one looked closely a faint pale green crept around the edge of his iris. He had a pensive expression on his face, his nose scrunched in thought.

"What did you think of the story, Skoto?" He spoke expectantly, genuine curiosity lining his voice.

Skoto looked surprised for a moment; as though he had forgotten his presence within the room. He wet his lips before speaking.

"I don't really get why the fourth brother killed the witch. I know he said it was for his brothers, so that they could have her power. But the story never said that the witch was evil, just that she didn't like people. Did she really have to die?"

The man's eyes softened a bit staring down at the pensive young man. Reaching down, he tousled the boys head roughly; causing him to groan in annoyance.

"That talk is a bit heavy for a kid like you. Why don't you sleep on it, and we can talk about it some other time?" Though the sentence was posed as a question Skoto already knew – he wasn't going to get an answer tonight or 'some other time'. So instead Skoto stifled a yawn, fatigue worming it's way into his thoughts and muddling his mind. He laid back down, pulling his sheets up to his chin.

"Good night boys." he called out softly, body in the door frame.

"Night Uncle Khai." The boys responded in unison.

Skoto awoke to the smell of fire. Skoto had believed he knew the scent of fire, as he had spent a great deal of time sat beside campfires. Burning wood had a healthy and robust scent, often accompanied by roasting marshmallows and the company of his beloved brothers; their light laughter filling him with a warm entirely different from that of the campfire.

This was not that smell.

An overwhelming nebula of thick smoke clogged his nostrils. The smoke burnt his eyes, causing them to water; blurring his vision. The noxious fume was accompanied by a cacophony of screams and shouts. These were not whoops of joy or saccharine shrieks. These people were afraid, these people were in _pain._

Skoto rose with fervent urgency, his eyes sweeping across the room rapidly. Thick plumes of fire licked hungrily at the wooden beams in his room. His eyes found the beds of his friends, each bed was emptied. They had been taken from him. The fire and pain had swallowed them, too. A thousands thoughts pounded at the door of his mind.

Where had his brothers gone?

How many people had been hurt?

How many people had died?

Why?

 _Why was this happening again?_

His body shook involuntarily, but Skoto couldn't move. It was as if a terrible titan had been set on the pit of his chest, making any movement impossible. His body shook again, more desperate this time. A voice began to pierce through the countless others, but the words were muted; as if the speaker was underwater.

Pain blossomed across his left cheek, and the fire faded. Thick plumes of fire evaporated as though they were never there. The discord faded away, first to whispers then to a complete silence.

Then Skoto awoke a second time. His body was covered in a light sheen of sweat. His breath coming out in harsh, short gasps. Above him, holding him by both his shoulders, was Alva. His face was contorted into a grimace. His white, almost silvery eyes were calm and focused. His lips moved, but Skoto had trouble making out the words. After some rather difficult lip-reading he discerned the message.

"Breath with me, Skoto. It's just a nightmare. You're okay, I have nightmares too. All the time, even. None of it is real, just breath with me. In and out, okay? Just like that, we don't want to wake Ekri now do we? We both know how much of a pain it is to get him back to bed, right?"

Skoto felt himself nod, a breathless laugh escaping unbidden. A small smile graced Alva's lips.

"See? You're all right. Nightmares aren't real, remember? There's no reason to be scared."

Skoto just closed his eyes in response and kept breathing deeply. Sucking in air like his next breath would be his last. Idly, he noticed Alva shift his weight and body around until he was sat at the foot of his bed.

When he re-opened his eyes, they met with Alva's once more. Thinking back, he chuckled happily at his realization.

"What?" His voice was soft, so as not to wake the other two.

"Nothing…It's just, throughout that whole thing – you didn't stutter once."

Genuine surprise flashed across Alva's face, before his face lit up with a bright smile that stretched his cheeks.

"I-I guess I just wasn't thinking about it. The w-words just k-kinda flowed y'know?"

"Yeah, I heard." Skoto wet his lips. "Thanks for that, by the way. I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's o-okay, I was already awake t-too." Things were silent for a moment. "Do you….want to talk about it, m-maybe? U-Uncle Khai does the same for m-me.

"No!" He began quickly, catching himself even faster. "I mean, no – it's okay. I don't even really remember it."

Alva gave him an unconvinced look. "Y-You sure?"

Skoto took one last deep breath. "Yeah. I'm good. Don't worry about it. Thanks, Alva."

Alva smiled hesitantly and whispered back, "I-If you're sure, I s-suppose." He made to leave to his own bunk, but hesitantly turned back.

"I-It isn't r-real. N-No matter how scary it i-is, it's just a b-bad dream."

"..Right, it just scared me. Night, Alva." Alva returned to his own bed, pulling his covers up.

Not real. They were just dreams, figments of his imagination. It must have been his dinner. Something he had eaten had caused that awful scene. It wasn't real, none of it.

Then why?

Why can he still _feel_ the fire licking at his face?

Still _hear_ the screams of terror?

Skoto did not sleep that night.


	2. Blood Runs Thick

**AN: I can't say I was expecting this to receive any traffic, reviews, favorite etc. To those of you that read the first chapter, and to my first reviewer - you have my heartfelt thanks. I'm fairly new to writing fan-fiction, but I hope you can find some enjoyment in my writing. I apologize if the story seems slow, but a common trend I've noticed with OC stories is placing the characters in the middle of the source-material with a mere chapter dedicated to their introductions. This can be done well, I've seen it done well before. I simply doubt my ability to do so. For this particular story I want to develop and flesh out my characters more before introducing them to the plot of the show. This will hopefully make the interactions between the two more realistic.**

 **Once again, thank you for taking the time to read (and or review)**

 **-Saint**

Ekri and another young man were staring angrily at each other. The reason for the argument was lost to both of them. They were both looking for reasons to be angry, searching for things to use against the other. Toys were scattered around the playroom. Forming an impromptu circle around the two boys. Ekri had experienced a growth spurt in the last year, putting him a few good inches above the brown haired child.

"Take that back!"

"Why?! It's true! Your brother is a big, stupid, weirdo!"

Ekri saw red. Had he taken the time to properly think through the words, he would have made the connection that is brother wasn't stupid. Weird, maybe, but most certainly not stupid.

But Ekri was eleven. Such things didn't matter; he had called his brother mean names, now he would _pay._

His body surged forward, unfocused, but with raw strength and anger fueling the charge. Their bodies collided and tumbled across the floor. Ekri ended up atop the boy, and began hammering his fists into the younger boy with wild abandon.

Suddenly, rough hands grabbed the scruff of Ekri's shirt and pulled. Then with the flick of a wrist, the young spitfire was thrown in the across the room. He landed painfully, with an unceremonious thud.

"Just what do you think you're doing!?" came the angry snarl of Khai

Ekri clutched at the pain that sprouted from the back of his head. Rising to his knees, he met Khai's snarl with one of his own.

"He called Skoto a stupid weirdo!"

"And you think that gives you any fuckin right to do this to him! Huh?!"

Ekri glanced at the boy, dismissively at first, then upon second glance realized the true extent of the damage he'd inflicted on the boy - Theo was his name.

A rivulet of blood trickled down both of his nostrils. Dark purple bruises were scattered across his features. His lip was busted, smears of crimson clearly distinguishable on his pale skin. Tears cascaded down his face as he clung to Khai's leg.

Feeling sudden doubt at the justification for his actions, Ekri grimaced at the sight. He hadn't meant to go so far, not really. But he hated it when people made fun of his brother, only _he_ could do that. Theo had been saying these things to him for days; Ekri successfully brushing off each insult and spout obdurately.

Not today, however. Today he had snapped.

Admittedly, those weren't even the worst insults Theo had used against him and his brothers. He'd called them worse, much worse. Going so far as to resort to dreaded _cuss words,_ a well known taboo. A stupid weirdo? He knew his brother wasn't stupid, and nothing was _wrong_ with being weird. Even Ekri could admit that he was weird, more often than not. Theo was simply incessant however, gushing off insults and jibes at seemingly every hour. Continuing until Ekri couldn't take it anymore.

"I-...I'm sorr-"

"I'm sure you are." Khai spat, embers of anger still smoldering in his eyes. He sighed tiredly, and suddenly Ekri felt an intense wave of guilt wash over him. For the injured boy of course, but also for just how _worn_ Khai looked in that moment. Deep wrinkles, obviously born of stress, crinkled against his palm as he clutched at the bridge of his nose.

"Just...just go to your room Ekri. I'll decide what to do with you later. I need to tend to Theo." Without so much as a glance back at the boy, Khai turned with Theo in his arms towards the orphanage's makeshift infirmary.

Ekri found himself shuffling his feet up the stairs towards his own room. The room that he shared with his three...brothers. It was a strange concept for his young mind. They certainly weren't related by blood. The only relation they shared was through the orphanage. It certainly felt like he had three older brothers, however. With how much they doted whilst simultaneously insulting him.

Thinking of his brothers brought a sudden realization to Ekri's troubled mind. They were going to be so irritated with him. This wasn't the first time that he had started a fight. In fact, he was quite infamous for doing so. Though the fights were never friendly, they certainly didn't result in the other child leaving for the infirmary in the arms of Khai.

The doorknob to their room suddenly felt much more imposing. What would he say? He couldn't lie, the mere thought of doing so brought with it a horrible taste of ash to his tongue. Perhaps say nothing? That would merely delay the confrontation by an hour or so. Besides, Ekri wouldn't be able to stand it, the unspoken question lingering in the air until Khai came to dole out his punishment. Then they would be upset he had tried to hide it.

Ekri nearly cried out in frustration as he took a fistful of hair into one hand. He was backed into a corner, with all foreseeable options ending badly for him.

A sudden surge of anger rushed through his veins.

This. This was _not_ how Ekri did things. Ekri did not cower behind doors.

 _Door cowered in front of Ekri._

Lavi wasn't sure what he was expecting when he heard Ekri's footsteps resounding off the rickety wooden flooring. Him barging in without knocking, or giving any sort of forewarning was what he expected. From there a knock at the door would have been unlikely, but not impossible by any means. Lavi would have seen it as a step in the right direction for his brash brother.

Thus when Ekri threw the door open with considerably excessive force Lavi couldn't suppress the high-pitched yelp that sprang from his throat.

In his shock Lavi fell backwards out of the chair he was seated on, his head smacking painfully against the flooring. Ekri gaped at Lavi, as though he hadn't expected anyone to be beyond the door. Before his expression morphed into a mix of worry and guilt. He rushed over to his downed brother and reached out to help him up.

"I'm sorry Lavi! I didn't mean to – I wasn't thinking and I-"

"Gimme a minute," Lavi chirped out "Head's ringing."

"Sorry..." Ekri muttered remorsefully.

A few moments passed with Ekri kneeling by Lavi's side. Lavi laid with eyes closed, his hands gently massaging the point of impact. Then, as if he had heard some signal exclusive to him his eyes opened.

"I'd say it's not your fault, but….you did scare the crap outta me."

Lavi began to stand, Ekri offered his hand which he took gratefully. Lavi sat down on the edge of his bed, while his brother remained standing. They remained silent for a moment, Lavi staring at Ekri expectantly. A small sigh broke the silence before Lavi spoke.

"...Well? This is where, I don't know, you tell me why you kicked in our door?"

The flood of negative emotions Ekri had forgotten surged back to the front of his mind. He groaned in frustration and fell backwards onto his own bed.

"Ugh, I don't wanna talk about it." That was wrong, he did want to talk about it. He hated leaving problems unsolved.

Lavi stared at him for a moment.

"You suck at lying. You do want to talk – I can tell."

Ekri grimaced, was he really so easy to read?

"Yes, yes you are. Sometimes I wonder if you think with your face instead of your brain."

Ekri bristled for a moment, seemingly offended, before sighing in defeat.

"Haa… Yeah. I messed up pretty bad just now."

"What'd you do?"

"You know that new kid, Theo?"

"Sure, he just got sent here...I wanna say two months ago? Why?"

"He doesn't seem to like us all that much." Ekri rose up from his prone position and was met with Lavi's eyes meeting his with focus. It was something he enjoyed about his brother, when you had his focus it was yours. He didn't look at you out of the corner of his eye, or stare out into space while talking with him. When you spoke with him he made sure you knew he was listening.

"No, he doesn't really like us at all now that you mention it." Lavi answered with an air of curiosity in his voice.

"Well, he and I got in a fight just now."

"Oh? So then what's the problem? You look pretty okay to me."

"Of course _I'm_ okay." Ekri's voice rose, seemingly slighted by his words. He turned his eyes away from Lavi, another burst of shame assaulting him.

"I took it too far," He finally answered.

"Okay, I'm still not seeing the problem here." Lavi responded, the smallest bit of frustration working it's way into his voice. "It's not like you sent him to the infirmary or anythi..." Lavi trailed off, the dots finally connecting in his head.

"You did. You sent him to the infirmary." His voice was wrapped in disbelief.

Ekri almost wanted to laugh. It had _finally_ been spoken, now all he had to do was deal with the aftermath. At the same time, however, he felt the font of negative emotions that had built within him.

"I didn't mean too! He was being an as-"

"Language!" Lavi squeaked, his eyes darting around as if the word was spoken sin.

"...He was being rude. To all of us. To Skoto, Alva, even you. Kept calling all of us weird."

"But...we _are_ weird Ekri."

"I know that! But..." He growled in frustration.

"How do you do it?" Ekri asked suddenly, fervently almost.

"Do what?" Lavi replied taken aback.

"You just let it slide over you. Every time he calls you weird, or stupid it doesn't bother you at all. You can just sit there and smile at him like he isn't making fun of you. How do you do it?"

Lavi brought a hand to his chin, pensive expression sewn onto his face. An anxious feeling swelled into Ekri's gut as the terse silence carried on. Then after what seemed an eternity to the young boy, Lavi answered.

"I don't know."

Ekri face slumped against his covers as Lavi chuckled nervously.

"..Ah, sorry? I guess I just haven't ever thought about it that deeply."

"...an' why is that?" Ekri's spoke, muffled, against his sheets.

"I don't really care about him all that much, I think."

Ekri looked up at him, disbelief sprinkled across his features.

"...Really?"

"Oh don't look at me like that! Just because I wanna make a career out of saving people doesn't mean I like them. I'd save him in a heartbeat. But I won't go out of my way to be his friend. If he doesn't like me because I'm 'weird' then he can go right ahead. I don't give a hoot.

Ekri shifted his head so that his chin was resting against the sheets. A look of bafflement plastered to his face.

"...That's it? You just don't care?"

Lavi thought about it for a moment, before nodding cheerfully.

"That's so unfair," Ekri moaned pitifully. "You can't just not care. That's gotta be cheating or something."

"Or maybe it's just the answer that nobody can see," Lavi responded playfully.

"Don't you go all Skoto on me now," Ekri responded with mirth. "Speaking of which, where are those two?"

"Ah, Skoto went to go get groceries with Maddie. Alva is out resetting his snares I'm pretty sure."

Ekri's smile fell a bit, "are we low on funds again?"

"You know Maddie would never tell us if we were…." Lavi trailed off, his eyes finding the ground sadly.

"But you think we are."

"...Yeah. You noticed it too, didn't you? Potatoes and rice for the past few weeks."

"She still makes it taste good though, doesn't she?"

Whatever Ekri was about to say was cut off by the sound of the doorknob turning. Khai stepped into the room, his shoulders tensed Khai's eyes immediately fixing Ekri's with an irritated glare. Ekri swallowed the lump in his throat, before speaking.

"I'm sorry. I took it too far, I let him get to me when I shouldn't have. I'll accept whatever punishment you have for me."

"You're damn right you will. You broke his nose and knocked a tooth out."

Ekri flinched at the harsh words, tucking his chin to his chest in shame.

Khai ran a hand through his hair whilst simultaneously walking to Ekri's bed. He sat down adjacent to Ekri and stared out a window.

"You want to be a huntsman, Ekri?"

Ekri nodded.

"A huntsman can never, ever do what you just did."

Ekri stilled.

"If I had been training you to unlock your aura, you could have very well killed Theo in that scrap. Aura makes you much, much more than an average person. Instead of treating some swelling and bruises we'd have been mopping up the bits and pieces left of him. I'm afraid of pushing any of you boys to unlock your aura. You know why?"

The boys remained silent but shook their heads in negative affirmation.

"When you unlock your aura, it's more than getting some 'force field' that protects you from harm. You become stronger. You become faster. You know those X-Ray and Vav comics you love so much? You become like them, superheros. Simple punches become the same as cannons. Dodging bullets becomes trifling instead of impossible. You become powerful, _dangerous_ , even.

A long silence passed; Khai allowing the boys to mull over his words before continuing.

"It's why kids attend combat school when their older – why kids your age wait two or three years. Where you have teachers and trained professionals to guide you." He took a breath and wet his lips. "From there you go to _another_ school that takes it even further. Do you get it? I'm not a trained professional by any means. Sure, I use to be a huntsman. I can teach you how to fight, how to use your aura, how to sing or dance. But I _cannot_ teach you to be mature. I've got a job and an orphanage to run, I can't be there to stop you every time someone calls Skoto 'weird' or makes fun of Alva's stutter. You have to be able to stop yourself. You have to be able to look him in the eye while he spits on your life, your achievements, your everything and do nothing. Talk with all you want, spit and scream for hours if that'll please you. But you can't act, you can never act. Your actions haven't done anything but proved to me that my fears may be justified."

Khai's heavy words fell upon apt ears. What's worse, Ekri couldn't deny a single thing. He was brash, temperamental, immature – the list goes on. He couldn't ignore them like Skoto. He couldn't kill them with kindness like Alva. He couldn't not care like Lavi. Responding with fire was all he knew. That was what he could do - _what he thought he could do._ Today he'd broken that, gone to a place where he couldn't go. He tried to speak but his lips were dry, his throat constricted in a vice of emotions.

"With the way things are now, I can't train you."

Ekri couldn't help the few tears that dripped down his face. This was his dream – he had always wanted to be a huntsman alongside his brothers. To hear a man he looked up too more than _anything,_ say he wasn't ready caused deep reverberations of sorrow to within him.

Then Lavi put a hand on his shoulder.

"All of what you just said is true, Uncle Khai."

The sorrow deepened, even his own brother thought he wasn't re-

"But you forget something"

Lavi looked down at Ekri and smiled, before staring up at Khai with the same bright smile.

"He is never alone."

Lavi paused to take a breath, then spurned onward by the silence continued.

"Huntsmen are never alone. They work in teams of four. You've drilled that into our heads ever since we first came here. You are never alone. 'Lean on your brothers' - your exact words. Ekri could one day do all of those things, maybe more. Every single one of us is capable of that; me, Alva, Skoto, all of us are capable of that. But we have each other. When Ekri is angry, he'll have Skoto to stop him, Alva to calm him, myself to relieve him. We can't do this alone. None of us can. But together, we _can._

Lavi continued his exoneration with a short, exasperated breath. The hand on Ekri's shoulder sat, cloth bunched tightly in his fist. A passionate fire had lit in his eyes which stared intensely into Khai's.

"I don't care if you don't believe in him. _I_ believe in him."

The silence was deafening. Both Khai and Ekri stared in awe at Lavi, who was now panting after his outburst. Khai's eyes had a bizarre gleam to them as he stared at the two boys. One staring astonished at the other, while the second gazed defiantly into his eyes.

Then he laughed.

His head was thrown back in raucous laughter that echoed throughout the room. His curled around his stomach in a vain attempt to detain his laughter – the attempt failed horribly. The man slung his arms around the necks of the two boys, the boisterous laughter dying down to small chuckles.

"Ha...aha ho-kay kiddo. You got me there. You got me good." His eyes met Ekri's. "I'm sorry Ekri, I wasn't seeing the whole picture there. I doubted you, all four of you. Lucky for you upstarts, you've got such a nice brothers." He rapped both of their heads with his knuckles, causing both of the boys to grumble in embarrassment.

Ekri's eyes lit up in slim hope. "So does this mean…?"

"That I'll train you? Yeah. I think you're all ready. You know that means you'll have to fight Grimm, though? Humanity's greatest enemy? Adversary number one?" He rattled off, a playful tone in his voice.

"Well yeah!" answered Ekri eagerly. "It's just what I – we've been wanting to do since...pretty much always!"

"Even if it means you have to save hundreds of people just like Theo?" Khai challenged, the inflection of his voice changing to a more level tone.

Ekri took a hard breath, and stared down at his hands. The hands he had used to hurt. They were red still, the skin having been chaffed during his exchange with Theo. His eyes combed each line of his palm. Seemingly searching for some unseen response. He released his breath and met eyes with Khai, a new steel shining in his eyes.

"Yeah. I'd save every one of them."

Khai smiled.

"Now that sounds like something a huntsmen would say," Khai smirked as he roughly tousled the boys hair.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" He placed a compassionate hand on his Ekri's shoulder.

"You're still in huge trouble kid," Khai remarked with a cheerful lilt to his voice.

Ekri laughed nervously, a small bead of sweat making it's way down the side of his face.

"Really, you thought _I_ was bad. Wait till Maddie gets a hold of you. She's gonna tan your hide kid."

His nervous laughter died and his face paled all at once. Ekri made to shoot up out of bed and out the door, window, anywhere but where he was really, but the tender grip on his shoulder had morphed into that of an iron clamp. Khai began cheerily dragging Ekri out of the room by the scruff of his shirt. His flailing and wriggling only making the vice grip on him tighter, he looked to his brother hope gleaming in his eye-

"I will remember you fondly"

The hope died.

" _They'll be fine"_ _Khai thought._

 _"They have each other."_


	3. Awakening

**Hello again, Saint here. This chapter came out a bit later in the evening, sorry about that. The editing process took a bit longer than I thought it would. Trying out a couple of new things in this chapter. Firstly I'm using line breaks to designate scene changes, as opposed to another space. Secondly, this is my first fight scene I've written - pretty much ever. Violence can be boring to read, but I tried to make it as interesting as I could. Your thoughts concerning the two would be greatly appreciated. One more quick things then I'll get onto the story. Firstly, in case you haven't noticed I'm trying to maintain a weekly update schedule, Wednesday being the upload day. It allows me to think and plan the next chapter throughout the week, then write over the weekend, with the start of the week for editing. Unless something comes up I'll maintain this schedule as best I can. Concerning whether are not the boys are the horsemen...well... you'll have to read and find out. (;**

 **That should about do it for this AN, thank you for taking the time to read and review. They really do inspire me to come back and continue writing.**

 **-Saint**

o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o

When Maddie envisioned her profession as a nurse, this was certainly not what she had in mind. She had imagined working at an _actual_ hospital, for one. Taking care of patients – _people_ – as they recovered. She had studied at prestigious schools in Vale for this exact reason. Meeting their needs around the clock, whether that was talking with them for ten minutes, bringing them their food, water, changing their dressings, giving them medication. She expected that, she had gone to school for a great deal of time to do exactly that.

So when Khai came to her with the offer of a job taking care of people, children, to be precise; Maddie leaped at the opportunity. She hadn't always liked children – when she was younger she almost detested them. Under the right circumstances they could be such cruel little devils sometimes. Then again, her kind were at a disadvantage in that regard. With age came wisdom. Wisdom that tempered her dislike into understanding, and her understanding into fondness. For where children could be cruel, they could be doubly as kind. This place, this orphanage had shown her that.

When Khai brought her before the children, she will admit, a part of her had been afraid. Afraid that the children would look at her with the same disgust and fear she had known for all of her life. Perhaps they would run from her, run and hide far away to escape the 'beast'.

Imagine her surprise when four little boys looked at her horns with wonder, sheer awe painted across their faces as if they had seen the most amazing, wondrous painting in the entire world.

" _Whoa! You have horns! I didn't know people could grow horns!"_

" _They look so cool! Do you wear hats with holes in them?"_

" _Huh, they look really fuzzy. Can I touch them?"_

" _You horns are very pretty, miss."_

Remembering their words still brought tears to her eyes today. She did not know it then, but she had fallen in love with those four boys. Her family thought her foolish to stay for as long as she had, telling her the job didn't pay nearly enough. She was much more experienced, she could go work at a _real_ hospital by now.

In this exact moment, she had never been more glad she hadn't listened to them.

"It hurts, Maddie..." Alva whimpered,

"Oh..." she whispered, her voice catching as tears brimmed at her eyes. "I know baby, I know it hurts. But you have to be tough for me, okay?" Her hands skillfully worked the clothing off his upper body. She couldn't hold the gasp that tore out her lips.

"What the _fuck_ happened,Khai...?" she whispered, dark eyes frantically taking in his person.

Countless bruises littered his upper body and shoulders. They almost looked like shadowy limbs stretching across his skin, a tinge of purple dotting the afflictions. She was worried that he might have busted a few blood vessels, in the left shoulder almost certainly. However, the bruises weren't important right now.

She had to stop the bleeding

Some of the cuts were shallow, hardly even breaking the skin. Others bit into his flesh deeper, blood gushing from the open flesh in thick, heavy streams.

Her hands had started reaching for the bandages before her mind had come to terms with what she was looking at. She wound the bandages tight around his chest, blurry lines of crimson soaking through the white cloth easily. Alva let out a drawn out whine as the layers of white cloth increased in thickness – putting an almost uncomfortable pressure on his bruised chest. She held a sob tight to her throat as she finished winding the bandages around his chest.

"You're gonna be okay honey, you just gotta lay still for me alright? Just rest your head Alva." She wove her hands, which had been stained with red, through his hair in an attempt to comfort him. She laid a kiss upon his pallid forehead, while his eyes drifted shut into unconsciousness. Her eyes drifted from Alva to the other three boys, each resting on their bed comfortably with the same bandages wrapped around their upper body. Similar red stains had seeped through the bandages. The sight brought a hateful snarl and watery eyes.

Khai had a great deal of explaining to do.

o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o

The forest was unusually dark and damp today. Normally, the sun shone brightly through the canopy above, illuminating the small clearing the boys and Khai had christened their training location. Not more than a hundred yards away, the back wall of the orphanage loomed. A small creek babbled as it cut through a quarter of the clearing. This clearing was usually accompanied by gentle chirps of birds as they drifted from tree to tree, or the soft croaking of a frogs submerged in the brook. Not on this day, however.

Today, the forest was silent.

Khai broke the silence.

"We've been doing this for a while, haven't we kiddos?"

The four boys in question stood in a line, nearly shoulder to shoulder. The terseness of the situation was not lost on them. Tension had laid itself upon the clearing as if great beasts had taken residence on the branches of the pines; staring voraciously down on them. Ekri was the first to answer.

"All we've been doing is running and carrying around stupid logs," Ekri grunted. "You said you were going to teach us how to be huntsmen."

Khai chuckled, but the sound was dry and humorless.

"Hey, c'mon now. We've done some sparring. You guys got the gist of it, don't get hit and hit them." He stuck a hand in his pocket. "But you're right. I said I was gonna teach you to be huntsmen. And huntsmen need aura."

The boy's faces lit up, a wordless question in their eyes.

"We've hit a wall. I can't teach you more without being your auras unlocked. We'll get to that in a minute. First, I got a story for you."

He pulled a leather sack off of his back, and placed it on the ground. Khai then reached into the sack and pulled out a large ornate wooden case, not unfamiliar to a cigar box. With a click, Khai opened the case; revealing five short blades.

"When I first began learning to be a huntsmen," Khai began pulling the knives out of the case one by one. "I asked my teacher what weapon I would use. When I was your age, we didn't have mecha-shift anything. Most kids used swords, shields, and the bigger guys used axes and big hulking maces. Some had begun to carry a side-arm with them, so they could shoot at the Grimm that flew. But for the most part that was it. We didn't have guys running around with assault rifle spears, pistol batons, or _scythe shotguns_ for goodness sake.

"J-Just _how_ old are y-you Uncle Khai?" Alva interrupted with curiosity in his voice.

"Old enough to call you a brat," Khai rushed through his teeth. "But – point is, I asked my teacher what I should use. I was pretty quick, so I thought I could get away with a sword and shield. No way I was gonna wave around some big huge five foot sword or axe. That was too simple though, didn't give me too much in one area. Then I thought maybe a halberd or glaive, being able to hit the thing tryin to kill you before it can hit you sounds like a good deal eh?"

"That _does_ seem pretty smart..." Skoto trailed off.

"I must have sat there staring at him for a five minutes before I noticed what he was holdin out for me to take." He palmed the handle of one of the blades, and brought it before his face to look at it. The handle was wooden, painted over with an ebony finish and was about four inches long. The blade itself was seven inches long, and tapered off to a wicked point. Light did not glint off of the blade, despite the fact Khai held it in the sun. A simple blade, weighing less than a pound perhaps.

"He gave me one of these."

Khai distributed the knives out to the four boys. Each took it in the hands, and held it almost reverently. Alva peered at the blade inquisitively, as if he were trying to discern the material and make of the weapon. Ekri gripped the knife and swished it through the air, marveling at the crisp sound the knife made as it split air itself in two. Lavi held with one hand and tested the sharpness against his forearm hair. Skoto merely took hold of the blade and thumbed the spine of it, peering into his reflection on the cheek of the knife.

"The knife is one of the older, if not the oldest, tools of mankind. Scholars theorize early humans created it to gather fruit off of tougher plants, perhaps even to skin and butcher animals."

Khai pulled out his own knife from the box. It was of the same make as the other knives, the only notable difference was evidence of scuff around the handle.

"I think those scholars are wrong. I think they place too much faith in our ancestors."

The four boys listened intently, their knives – still palmed – hung at their sides.

"The knife was created to kill. Be it Grimm, or man. It was bladed to _slash_ and pointed to _stab_.

He emphasized the words with a quick demonstration, his arm becoming naught but a blur as the knife sliced the air in front of him. Khai's eyes became unfocused as he stared at the blade, he remembered the day he got a knife like this very well.

" _What am I suppose to do with this, cut cake?"_

" _Well, if you don't suck, you'll kill with it."_

" _With this little toothpick? All the other kids have blades twice as long as this."_

" _All these shitty brats? Bah, they'll all die the minute they get on a real battlefield_ _. You're a lucky little brat, your dad is paying me good to make sure you keep breathin."_

"... _Why're they all gonna die?_ _"_

"... _They spend all of their time learning, practicing day in and day out to kill with that weapon and that weapon only. It becomes apart of them, with it they're everything; without it - nothing. Bookworms and eggheads are even sayin pieces of our soul gets endowed into that weapon, with how we channel aura through em'. It's a big fuckin flaw in the military."_

" _What's wrong with using one weapon?"_

" _Well, usually that one weapon is the only bloody pointy bit they got. What happens when some bloke comes n' knocks it out of your hands?_ _"_

" _They go and pick it back up, duh."_

" _Shitty brat, you think you'll have a chance to do that? When you're on the floor, unarmed, you think anyone is gonna give a damn? Think they guy about to stick you is gonna moan about how unfair it was you got gored 'cause you couldn't hold your weapon properly? No, nobody's gonna give a shit whether you got a pointy bit or not. This ain't no game, Khai."_

" _I know that, damn fossil."_

" _Then start acting like it. Obviously you aren't gonna use this as a primary weapon. It's a balanced and reliable, something you can always fall back on when shit hits the fan. So you start with that. Hell, I'll tell you what..."_

"Land a single cut on me, and I'll see about forging you some real weapons."

"But, we don't even have our auras unlocked yet," Lavi pitched nervously.

"That's the second part I'm getting at. For how much we rely on the stuff, and for how many theories there are about aura, we frankly don't know jack about how it works. From what most people can tell, there are two ways to go about it. One, you can have someone else unlock it for you, by using a chant that's been passed down for as long as anyone can remember. Second, you get stuck in a pretty stressful situation and you aura will respond in kind."

"We k-know about all of t-that, Uncle Khai." Alva began, "w-we did read the b-books you gave us, after a-all."

"Doesn't hurt to hear it again, shrimp. All right then, who wants to go first then? I've never unlocked someone's aura before, but how hard can it b-"

"Actually, we were talking last night...and I think we want to unlock it ourselves."

" _...What?"_ Khai's voice came out like a breathy whisper, as if the air had been driven from his lungs.

"You understand what you're asking, right? That won't be like carrying logs, or running till you drop. People only unlock it themselves when their lives are in _genuine_ danger. Do you understand what you're asking me to do?"

The boys didn't even blink, but shared a look between each of them. Not a word was spoken, but they all nodded as if an agreement had been struck.

"We do."

Khai spent a long, drawn out moment staring at each of them. Searching their eyes for something he couldn't understand. Their hidden agreement maybe? The reason why they would choose something so _stupid_ and painful when he could just do it for the-

 _Ah._

"There's no reason for you to feel that way. It's our actual jobs, we're suppose to look after you."

Skoto gave an almost bitter smile, "Maybe so, but that doesn't change things. We want this. We want to christen the creation of our team with the first thing we ever did ourselves. Without someone else doing it for us."

"What's the difference between me unlocking it, or me beating you within an inch of your life? I'm still the causation. I'm still the one _doing_ it.

Alva answered this time. "The difference is pretty big. When a persons life is threatened it's their desire awakening the aura. The soul responds to the call of it's user. If you did it for us, it would just be you. "

Khai felt a heavy weight on his shoulders. Every part of him wanted to say no, he wouldn't – _couldn't_ do this. Maybe he could force them to have him unlock their auras.

But what then?

What would be the after? They wouldn't be able to forgive him, not for this. This wasn't something he could say no too – not really. One route lead to hurting them emotionally, the second was real, _physical_ pain. This wasn't ever a choice, not for him.

Khai took a breath, held it, and then released it.

" _Forgive me..."_

"Prepare yourselves."

They all smiled at him.

"Thank you."

Lavi's smiled turned to grimace as Khai lodged his knee into his ribs, spittle rocketing out of his lips. Lavi's body remained suspended in the air for a few moments, as if it were a marionette, before a Khai brought the handle of his knife down on his back; sending him to the ground with slam.

Khai turned his gaze to the other three boys that stood, mouths open in surprise.

"Well, come on then," Khai grunted passively. "Don't just stare like sheep, _move!"_

Khai accentuated his shout with a powerful lunge forward, his fist training towards Ekri.

Ekri ducked under the first jab, but was introduced to Khai's leg swiftly after. He landed adjacent to Lavi, who had begun to slowly rise.

"Too low, it's almost like you wanted me to kick you."

Alva lashed out with a kick at Khai's midsection, but only found purchase in Khai's hand. Alva grunted in pain as Khai's fist was forced across his cheek, the force sending him spinning away.

Khai's eyes widened in surprise as the hairs on the back of his neck rose.

Khai and Skoto's blades met with a harsh clang. Skoto's teeth were grit, an angry snarl painted across his face. Khai's face remained passive as he stared into his eyes.

"Guess you're playing for keeps, huh?"

Skoto just snarled and put more pressure on the blade.

Khai's attention was diverted as the other three boys finally pulled themselves off the ground. Alva grimacing as a large purple bruise began forming on his cheek. Lavi held his side tenderly whilst maintaining a fighting posture. Ekri spat out a glob of blood, his normally white teeth painted red.

Skoto, seeing Khai's attention diverted attempted to land a fist on his temple. Only for his strike to meet empty air. In quick succession, Khai elbowed his sternum and used his outstretched hand to throw Skoto over his shoulder.

"Come on boys. This look like an action movie to you?"

They imperceptibly managed to nod in negative affirmation. Alva helped Skoto to his feet who readied himself after rising.

"Then stop with the one by one crap. Come at me, all at once or not at all. I'm done taking it easy." Khai flipped the knife in his hand, palming the blade in a reverse grip.

Everything changed at that moment. Shadows that were once dull and lifeless now seemed to crawl and slither. Khai's passive gaze had turned into a sharp glare. Staring at him made the four boys freeze, their hearts hammering in their chests.

Then Khai tore forwards.

Knives were brought up hastily to form some kind of defense. The defense was shattered, and the knife met flesh. Lavi's shoulder was torn open, and blood poured from the open wound. He stared in complete surprise at the wound, before Khai's fist send his spiraling away.

"Lavi!" Alva cried, "Khai stop! He's hurt!"

"I wouldn't be worrying about him right now." Khai's voice was serene, as if he were discussing the morning weather.

His knife came for Alva next, the boy managing to deflect the first strike. However, in a skillful show of flexibility, Khai brought his foot high into Alva's left shoulder. A sickening crack was heard as the boy was launched away, his body bouncing off the floor when it collided with the ground.

"You boys don't seem to understand what you asked me to do." His voice was cold, like a terrible blizzard

Khai blocked Ekri's blade, sparks briefly flaring into life as the edges collided. The blades collided a few more times, before Khai's knife raked across his left thigh. Ekri stumbled, and Khai's foot caught him on the side.

Skoto's came seconds after, his knife arced downward in a reverse grip. Khai dodged the knife by a hair's breadth, using his own knife to scour across Skoto's bicep. Khai swished his knife again, cutting the boy across his left pectoral before following up with a straight kick to his stomach. He was sent flying to where his brothers lay.

Khai suppressed a shiver at the sight of dripping ruby on his blade; before he commenced a slow, menacing walk towards the boys.

Alva began to rise first, his left shoulder visibly dislocated. He braced himself on his right hand as he stood. Then Ekri rose, vivid crimson dripping down his leg. Next was Lavi, a deep laceration carved onto his shoulder; and a painful grimace engraved on his lips. Finally, Skoto rose, an ardor in his eyes. One by one, they rose their knives in a ready position.

Then it happened.

As if it were a blinding star within the depths of an endless sky, Alva's aura sprang to life. A gentle blanket of ivory wreathed his form, as if he had just donned an alabaster cape; it's trim fluttering in the wind.

A voracious crimson gleaming in the heart of an inferno; Ekri's aura roared to life. His aura likened to flames that licked hungrily at his form. Even his hair bounced and swayed like a pyre atop his head. The only thing absent from the fire-like visage was the crackling and popping of a bonfire.

Ebony spiraled along the form of Lavi, coating him in a midnight hue. A swirling darkness that swallowed light intertwined along his legs and arms, before encapsulating his torso and head. Despite the dim color of his aura it was not opaque, and his features remained visible.

Ash settled upon Skoto's frame, as if it had always been. While his brother's auras were alive and vigorous, Skoto's was dull and unresponsive in comparison. Make no mistake, his aura billowed around him but the movements were sluggish and lethargic.

Khai felt a strange feeling well up in his chest, staring at the four boys. It was a beautiful sight no doubt, their auras undulating as one. However, it was not the sight that brought this strange feeling. Rather, the way all four of their auras activated at once. It was not common for two people to unlock their auras at the same time using this method. The very nature of this method led to a person unlocking their aura whenever they felt their individual life was threatened. For all four of their auras to activate at once…

A dark green glow illuminated Khai's form, like thorns creeping and twisting up his torso; not unfamiliar to likeness of a great oak.

Khai was not given time to ruminate on his thoughts, as the boys sprang at him as one. Their speed was nearly doubled, nay, tripled as they tore at him. Khai cursed and erected a hasty defense. The defense battered away Lavi, his reward a slice across his torso. The momentary distraction allowed Alva an opportunity to swipe with his blade towards Khai's unguarded midsection. Khai evaded by rolling onto his back, lancing out with both of his legs; landing firmly against Alva's torso. From his prone position, Khai saw Ekri cocking his knife back to bring it down on his head. Khai caught his wrist and twisted, forcing the boy to his knees. With a grunt of effort Khai used his grip on Ekri to flip himself over behind the boy; taking his arm hostage behind him. From there Khai planted his boot firmly into Ekri's lower back, sending him tumbling across the forest floor. Lavi and Skoto hopped over Ekri's tumbling body, and tried to overwhelm Khai with a flurry of slashes. Khai expertly twisted and turned, each slash missing by a narrow margin. Skoto mistakenly overextended in one slash, which allowed Khai to grab his wrist. With a tug, he pulled Skoto off his feet and raked his knife alongside his ribs, before throwing lobbing him at Lavi who, unprepared, caught him square on the chest.

Khai panted lightly as he stared at the downed forms of the boys. Multiple laceration dotted their forms, which were closing slowly thanks to the awakening of their aura. Khai's eyes widened in alarm as he saw the thick rivulets of blood leaking from the wounds.

"Boys?" Khai called, a lilt of fear touching his voice. Their forms remained still.

"Shit! Boys!" Khai rushed to their downed forms.

Khai's eyes darted over their forms, over the many lesions the boys had suffered at his blade. The wounds were closing, but far too slowly. They'd already lost a great deal of blood before their auras had even awoke.

"It's gonna be okay kids," Khai mumbled as leaves sprouted around his forehead and shoulders. Vines willed themselves away from various foliage from the forest, wrapping around the four boys. Khai began sprinting towards the orphanage, the vines following behind with the boys still forms in their leafy appendages.

" _I'm so sorry."_ Khai mumbled to himself as the door came closer and closer. He burst through the door, where Maddie sat at a receptionist desk. Her eyes widened in shock as Khai burst through the door, but then morphed into terror as Khai brought the boys through the doorway.

" _Help them."_

o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o

Khai stood outside the nurses office, an anxious expression stitched onto his features. He brought up his fingers to his mouth and began to chew off his fingernails, his foot taping impatiently against the ground. Suddenly, the door opened with a creak. Maddie stepped out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind her. Khai immediately approached her.

"How are they doing?"

She sighed, "If they hadn't activated their aura it would have been much worse. The cuts were the worst part. There were so many, too many. How did this even happen, Khai? I thought you routinely cleared the area of Grimm?"

Khai looked away, shame blossoming across his face and in the pit of his gut.

"...id it." Khai's voice caught in his throat.

"What? What did you say?"

"I did it."

Things were silent for a moment, as Maddie processed the words that fell from Khai's lips. Her expression shifted from a multitude of emotions. Finally, her face fell on outrage. Her dark eyes twisted in rage. Maddie's open palm caught the side of Khai's face, his head snapping to the side.

"How could you?" She hissed angrily.

Khai nursed the side of his face, his eyes sullen and his mouth set in a somber line.

"...They asked me too," he began after a moment. "We were activating their auras, and they choose to unlock it themselves."

"And you _allowed_ that!?"

"Keep your voice down!" Khai snarled in a whisper, his visage twisting into a scowl. "You'll wake the other children."

Any retort died in her throat, her scowl shifting into an unhappy grimace.

"Why would they ask you to do that?"

Khai frowned, "They felt it was something they had to do by themselves. They didn't want anyone to do this for them."

"That's….that's so – so..."

"Stupid. I know. I was there."

"Then _why did you let it happen?"_

"What would you have done then, Maddie?" His eyes gleamed with anger. "This isn't me taking away some toy they shouldn't be playing with. This was their auras, their _souls._ What right do I have to decide how it was unlocked?"

"They are just _kids_ Khai. They shouldn't have been allowed to make that choice."

"Then who? Who should have made that choice, Maddie? Their parents? Hate to break it to you, but they aren't exactly _here_ to decide that for them."

"I _know_ that, Khai. I'm not stupid. We're responsible for them, _we_ should have made the choice for them."

"That's not right and you know it," Khai seethed. "We don't have any more right over them than we do the other kids."

"They could have _died_ tonight, Khai. If they hadn't managed to unlock their auras we would be burying them right now!"

"Have you forgotten their chosen occupation, Maddie?" His voice was thick with anger. "They want to be Huntsmen, defenders of humanity. Do you know any huntsmen that die of old age? Ever attended a funeral that _wasn't_ with a closed casket?"

"Then maybe we shouldn't let them be Huntsmen, Khai!"

"That will kill them in a more painful way than any Grimm could ever manage."

"What are you even talking about?"

"They've wanted to be huntsmen ever since they were little. They've dreamt about it every day. You'd take that dream and crush it? Then you get to watch them die in a totally different way. You get to watch the life slowly drain out of them, living through each day doing something they might not _hate_ , but don't love. When you're aged and old, you'll realize that they lived an life the didn't enjoy. You'll die with regret in your heart, then they'll get old and die anyway.

Khai finished his tirade with a long, drawn out sigh. His eyes watered, before his hands came up to wipe furiously at them.

"I don't know about you," he began shakily. "But I'd rather they do what they love. At least that way they'll be happy."

Maddie sunk to her knees, and put her hands to her face as sobs wracked her frame.

"I kn-know that," she whimpered. "But I'm just so s-scared."

Khai fell to his knees, and brought his arms around her in an embrace. She clutched at his arms while she cried.

"I'm scared too. But I can't stop them from living how they want because I'm scared. All we can do is make sure they're ready."

Khai held her until her sobs quieted, and then they both rose slowly. Maddie stared at him for a moment, her eyes red and puffy.

"...I'm sorry for slapping you."

Khai chuckled, the warmth seeping back into his voice. "It's fine Maddie, you were worried."

He glanced at the clock, "It's late. You should get some rest."

Maddie nodded, and moved to turn away before glancing back at Khai.

"...You should bandage that cut on your cheek, it's not deep but it could get infected."

Then she turned, and walked down the hall towards her own room.

Khai raised an eyebrow, and ran his hands over his cheek. His hand came away from his cheek with dried blood flakes on his fingers.

" _If you land even a single cut on me..."_

A proud smirk settled upon his face, and he placed his forehead against the door the boy's slept in.

"I wonder who managed to land the hit?" Khai whispered against the door. "I suppose it doesn't matter. I'll have to give the forge at Beacon a call."

 _You did great, boys. Sleep well._


	4. Tale of Thorns

**Hello again, Saint here. Not much to say this time around, except that I'm thankful to everyone that took the time to read and a special thanks to those that took the time to review. I know that a great deal of stigma surrounds OC stories, so I greatly appreciate that you would decide to give my story a read despite that.**

 **I think that should do it for this for this one, though.**

 **Once again, thank you for taking the time to read and or review.**

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Skoto dreamt he was walking down a rural dirt path. Far above, tree limbs gently swayed to and fro as the wind ambled through them. The tree's were spaced along the trail unevenly, allowing the sun to break through the canopy frequently along the path. Skoto's feet moved without his consent, taking him further and further down the path. A flash of yellow to his right caught his attention, his head rebelliously acting out of his accord as well.

Skoto saw a man with bright blond hair, and dazzling blue eyes. Skoto came up to just below his shoulder, his neck craning to peer closer at his face. Stubble dotted his jawline and the beginnings of a soul patch were forming below his lip. The man stared down at Skoto, worry forming on his features.

"You okay, hon?"

Hon?

"Of course I am, love," the reply came unabated from his lips. His voice was light and airy. "I'm pregnant, not crippled." His other hand came up to his swollen stomach, fondly placing a hand atop.

Pregnant?

Skoto got a clear look at his hands while the man did so, which were small and dainty.

A second, much smaller hand clasped his other hand. Skoto's head swiveled back around, a similar flash of yellow emerging in her- _his_ vision. This time, it was a girl with long blond tresses, put into two pig-tails. She appeared to be young, five or six years old. She had grasped her hand in the ironclad grip children were known for. Skoto felt a smile form on his face, his lips moving once again.

"Your hair looks lovely, little sun. You're taking good care of, right?" the girl smiled toothily at her, a small blush forming on her face.

"Of course!"

Together the three walked downed the path, the occasional birdsong sounding from the canopy above. After what seemed like hours, a cabin developed in the distance. As the three drew closer Skoto made out more of the cabin. Constructed almost entirely of wooden logs, it stood at two stories tall. The house look new; as if someone had just finished hammering the last nail. Two troughs of sunflowers lined each side of the door, the flowers blooming beautifully in the mid-day sun.

A sharp pain in his stomach distracted him from the beauty of the house. With a high pitched gasp Skoto teetered to the side, the blonde man's arms keeping him upright. A horrible pain like no other had assaulted him, like someone had taken a knife to his abdomen and lower back. In the haze of pain Skoto felt liquid dripping down his legs, and voices assaulting his ear.

"Oh shi-! The baby!"

"Momma?! What's going on?!" Tears of confusion had begun to spring from the child's eyes,

"It's okay, little su-" another wave of pain cut off Skoto's words. "Your little sister is on her way."

The man pulled out what Skoto recognized as a scroll, and dialed a number he couldn't see. After a moment, a voice came through, the blond man's eyes sagging with relief. Skoto could not make out the voice, but he heard the man's reply.

"My wife is giving birth!" he nearly shouted. "I need a medical bullhead to my location!"

More quiet murmuring.

"Yes! Please hurry!"

Skoto peered up the blonde man's face, strangely enough Skoto could no longer hear the man's voice; Despite the fact that he felt his own mouth moving, and saw the blonde man's lips moving – no sound fell from their lips. The pain grew in magnitude, however. His abdomen was burning with an intensity he'd never even thought possible to exist. The fire slowly spread from his abdomen to his pelvis, growing in ferocity until all he could focus on was the pain. A wordless scream fell from his throat, causing the man holding him to wince. He placed his hands on his shoulders and peered into his eyes. His lips moved again, and Skoto began to make out the words.

"….e...p"

"…ke...p"

"...wake...up!"

"Skoto!"

Skoto's eyes snapped open. The world around him was blurry, and spun far too quickly for his liking. He reached for his weapon only for his hand to grasp open air. His heart beat violently against his chest, each pulse sending a painful echo throughout his torso. The intense pain he'd felt in his abdomen just moments before lingered on his skin for a moment, before fading rapidly – as if it were never there.

As Skoto's vision became more coherent he saw the outline of Lavi standing above him. His hands were clasped on his shoulder, which were still shaking him rapidly. Upon seeing his open eyes Lavi's eyes shone with relief.

"Skoto," Lavi's voice came out rushed, the words spilling out of his tongue haphazardly. "Something is happening outside, and I'm starting to get really scared."

Idly, Skoto heard a cacophony of shouts coming from outside. Wordlessly rising from his bed, Skoto took note of his two brothers who were stirring in their sleep; the shouts the likely culprit.

Skoto's bare feet padded against the wooden floor as he made his way to the window. Skoto's eyes widened as he opening the shutters and peered down below at the source of the shouting.

A crowd of people had gathered on the dirt road outside of the orphanage, with Maddie stood at the ajar door, body sticking out of the doorway. All of them were garbed in the same outfit, a white sleeveless jacket, a sleeveless black hood and black pants. The most prominent feature of the outfit was the white mask that covered the eyes and forehead of the wearer.

The White Fang, a once peaceful protest group turned violent. Skoto knew of them through overheard conversations between Maddie and Khai. Supposedly a recent change in leadership around two years ago had allowed for more coercive attitude to form in the group. Skoto had thought the group would have chosen to more densely populated towns and cities, where they could effect the most people. Though, part of him wasn't completely surprised. The general mood of the town had changed in the past weeks. The majority of the town, small thought it was, was faunus trying to escape discrimination in cities. With news of the White Fang spreading, it's no surprise some townsfolk had become sympathetic with their cause. Skoto recognized some faunus in the crowd, their features showing through their outfit.

The small mob was comprised of around two dozen people, who were armed with various spears and blades, and at the head of the crowd stood a large man with graying hair, two ears to the likeness of a bear sprouting from his head. A spear, which was folded in two, was strapped to his back, Spittle flew from his lips as he lead the shouting.

"We know you are in there, Khai! Come out and answer for your crimes!"

"He has done nothing!" Maddie's voice screeched back. "He protects you – all of you!"

"Shut up, stupid girl!" The man snarled, stepping forward. "You don't know what he is!"

Maddie made to retort, but a hand settled itself on her shoulder before the words came.

"It's okay, Maddie." Khai's form stepped out the door. "We're just gonna talk for a bit. Say, these folk might have woke up the kids with all this ruckus. Why don't you go check on them?"

"But-" Khai fixed her with a hard look. She sighed and back into the orphanage. Khai strode out leisurely to the leader, stopping a few feet from in front of him. Khai's eyes stared into the blank mask, an aloof look in his eyes.

"You wanted me, you got me."

The leader stared at Khai through the mask for a moment. Then, words came grinding past his lips.

"I can't believe I lived so close to such a devil." His tone was somewhat awed and suddenly subdued.

A look of frustration passed over Khai's face. "Look buddy, I'm not sure what you're talking abou-"

"I know who you are, Khai the Crimson Thorn."

Khai's eyes widened at that. The large man smirked, before continuing.

"Oh yes, that's right. I know you very well. You've aged well, murderer."

Khai's face contorted in confusion, before a horrific look of realization crossed his face.

"I doubt you even remember me. I certainly didn't remember what you looked like, for a very long time. Last memory I ever had of you was a little blurry, on account of this nice little shiner you left me." He pulled down the collar of shirt to reveal a grisly scar that began at the base of his neck, continuing on diagonally towards his chest. "When they found me I was paler than bone. Doctor's said I'd lost thirty-five percent of my blood volume, that I was lucky to be alive." Another bitter chuckle tore from his throat, emotion flooding his voice. "I certainly didn't feel all that lucky. Everyone and everything I'd ever known had been ripped from me, all those innocent villagers in that little hovel. Not a single one of us had any steel to our names, but that didn't stop you, did it?" His fists clenched at his sides, shaking in anger. After a few trembling breaths, he continued. "I drifted for years; eventually ending up here. For a very long time, you became a bad dream I tried so very hard to forget. Eventually _I did_ forgot, eventually I found strength to move forward." His voice grew to a snarl, intensity building in his words. "Till I saw you training those fuckin boys of yours behind your orphanage. I'd recognize those damn thorns anywhere. They were only wrapped around the throats of _everyone I've ever loved._ "

Khai ran a hand through his hair, revealing his stress marks for all to see. His eyes were sullen with dark bags dangling underneath.

"I have one question for you," the mob leader spat. "How do you look so young? You're older than _I_ am."

"...My semblance," Khai answered in a weary and broken voice. "For a long time all I thought I had was the thorns. Then when I turned sixty without a single gray hair to my name I went and got looked at again. They used a bunch of fancy words and equipment to tell me every ten years that went by my body only aged one year, couldn't tell me why for the life of them." Khai exhaled, his shoulders shrugged with the movement. "I turned one hundred a few weeks ago – my body is only twenty-eight years old."

Silence descended amongst the crowd. Skoto idly realized that all of his brothers had awoke, though he was too engrossed with the conversation to tell when they had joined in, and now stood beside him with looks of astonishment etched onto their faces as well.

Then the mob leader began to laugh. A hollow, twisted laughter that had the man doubling over, hands on his knees.

"What a fucking joke," he wheezed after a moment. "That someone that has ended so many innocent lives, gets to live ten times as long as anyone else. It's almost poetic, don't you think?" The man unfolded the spear from his back, a metallic clank resounding as the two parts attached firmly. Slowly, the entire crowd unsheathed their weaponry. The man leveled his spear at Khai, his stance aggressive. Khai's eyes hardened, before they widened in sudden fearful realization.

"Wait! We all need to calm down! All of this neg-"

"Enough talk!" the man suddenly screamed, his body surging forward with the spear facing outward. Khai swiveled his head back and forth, evading the spear by a mere inches. The rest of the mob followed shortly, rushing on Khai's position. Khai reached to his side, unsheathing his knife from his scabbard and in the same motion deflected the man's charge.

The four boys all shared a wordless glance, before nodding as one. Each boy dashed to their bedside and brandished a weapon.

Alva fingered the grip of his bow, whilst simultaneously hoisting the quiver full of arrows onto his back; clasping the straps closed on his shoulders. The bow in question was alabaster in color, and reached about four feet in length from upper to lower limb. The limbs themselves were elegantly simple, and appeared to have bladed edges on the side facing the user.

Ekri clasped a large war hammer, despite it's full length a substantial deal taller than Ekri himself, and hoisted it onto his shoulder. The handle was a fiery red; and roughly five feet in length. The head of the hammer was roughly the size of a basketball, and was composed of heavy black iron. One end of the head led to a flat surface, the other tapered off to a curved spike.

Lavi twirled a set of blades, one marginally longer than the other. The smaller sword, more of a dagger really, was about a foot in length. The handle of the dagger was deep black, while the blade was bright steel. The longer blade was around two feet long, the handle a bright white color, while the blade was a dark gray – a direct contrast to the dagger. The dagger's scabbard hung from his right hip, the sword's from his left.

Skoto grasped the handle of a large glaive. The pole was comprised of a simple black metal about six feet long, one end leading to a sharpened pommel while the other end lead to curved double-edged blade. Upon the surface of the blade, thin metal lines interlined the surface of the blade.

A sudden knocking at the door drew the boy's attention away from their weapons. A few moments after the knocking was heard, Maddie's voice sounded through the door.

"Boys? Are you awake in there?"

"Window?" Lavi asked, his eyes meeting with Skoto's briefly.

"Window." Skoto answered.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Khai heard the sound of shattering glass, followed by four sets of boots hitting the ground. Equal parts despair and pride filled him. Despair, for they certainly had overheard the conversation he'd had with the leader of the White Fang troop a few moments ago. Pride, because they'd so quickly responded to a violent situation, opting out of door usage entirely. A brief annoyance passed through him as he realized that was _his_ window they'd just jumped through – but pride held strong. This might even be a good learning experience for them, their first live combat situation against human foes that weren't Khai.

"Try to disarm them, boys." Khai called out whilst sidestepping a stab aimed at his torso. "And be careful! Their auras aren't activated!"

"Got it!" The boys called out as one.

Lavi quickly dashed into the fray with a whoop escaping from his lips, rolling under a swing of one blade, while using his sword to parry the slash another. The two blades met with a clang, but Gleam streaked through the air quickly after and cut the fingers of the man, who grunted in pain – his sword clattered to the ground as his sword arm became neutralized. Lavi took a few deep, stabilizing breaths before engaging another rioter – whose skill with a blade was marginally greater, as was his size. The man waved his large sword skillfully, the strikes sending painful vibrations up and down Lavi's arms despite his careful deflections. The man raised his sword high, and with a mighty heave brought it down on Lavi's guard, the boy falling to his knees in an attempt to mitigate the might of the blow. Lavi grunted as he rose slightly, using his legs to bear the weight of the blade, before a vicious kick caught him square in the torso. His aura flared against the man's foot as he rolled away, using the momentum from the kick to tuck and roll into a crouched position.

"Alright big guy," Lavi huffed, spittle spilling down his chin. "Let's see how you like this."

Stooping low, Lavi darted towards the much larger man; his dagger poised in front of him in a reverse grip, his sword trailing behind. When Lavi was close, he feinted with his sword arm before thrusting his dagger forward towards the mans face. However, the dagger did not reach – and the man knew it. So he simply allowed the dagger to linger in the air in front of his face, a smirk on his face.

Then he saw white.

With a yelp the man's hands came up to cover the eye-holes of his mask, Lavi grinned victoriously as his eyes blinked open.

"By _dust_ that is awesome," he breathed, disarming the man with a few slashes along his forearm and bicep. With a press of a button, spent cartridge ejected itself from the hilt of the dagger, Lavi reloading another quickly. "Note to self – never underestimate light dust _ever._ "

Alva hung back, setting himself down on one knee whilst notching an arrow. He took aim at a man skirting on the outside of Lavi's vision, before loosing the arrow. The string let loose with a quiet snap, the arrow gliding effortlessly through the air – into the palm of the grunt, who cried out in pain whilst releasing his weapon. Alva notched and loosed three more arrows in the same way, each arrow carefully placed to allow his foes survival. One was shot in the calf, another the arrow bit deep into his shoulder, the third through his bicep. The sound of rapidly approaching footsteps was the only warning Alva received, who quickly rolled to left, only to receive a glancing blow on his shoulder; the spear sinking deep into the earth. The spear-user clicked his teeth in annoyance, wrenching his weapon from the ground. Alva took a moment to analyze his opponent, a man of medium build with short, light blond hair. The man scoffed as he saw Alva tighten the grip on his bow.

"Just try to draw it, boy," the man snarled mockingly. "I'll gut you before you notch an arrow."

"I won't need too," Alva replied, channeling aura through his bow. The bowstring retracted into the limb of the bow; whilst the two limbs of the bow folded towards each other with a metallic clank, locking together a moment later forming a double-edged blade about three feet in length. The grip of the boy jutted out, allowing Alva to use it as a handle for the blade, the original grip of the bow serving as the cross guard for the blade. Palming the blade with both hands, Alva simply stared at the man before he smiled mockingly.

"Well? Weren't you going to gut me?"

The man growled and charged, his spear held at chest height. Alva sidestepped the charge, and brought the pommel down on the man's shoulder as he passed, leading into slash on the back of his tricep. The man grunted in pain, but brought his free arm around in savagely; aimed at Alva's temple. Alva ducked under his fist, swinging his sword in an arc as he rose, catching the man on his other tricep. The blonde haired man screamed in agony as his spear clattered to the ground, arms limp at his sides.

"Attack their arms first," Alva muttered quietly under his breath. "If you sever a tendon, they can't use their arms. If they can't use their arms they, more often than not, lose the fight." With a final desperate yell the man charged forward, intent on slamming his body against Alva's. With a sudden spin and show of flexibility, Alva brought his leg around in a round-house kick that caught the man mid-charge on his temple. The strike landed viciously, the man sent spinning to the dirt. With a final moan of pain his body listlessly collapsed.

Ekri laughed as he ducked under a horizontal slash from a man wielding a saber, quickly leading into a shoulder bash. The man grunted as he was thrown off balance, before crying out in pain as Ekri's hammer found purchase in his ribs. The man was launched away with a crack, his body spiraling into dense shrubbery.

" _Non-lethal_ Ekri!" Yelled Khai, watching the man fly away with a worried grimace on his face.

"I know what I'm doing!" Ekri cried back, deflecting a strike with the pole of hammer. "He's totally fine!"

In his distraction, a woman wielding a rapier landed a spinning strike on his forearms; causing him to hiss in pain for a moment as he felt the force behind the blow. He held his defense more rigidly, the constant flurry of blows from the woman putting him on the defensive. Ekri growled in frustration, before abandoning his guard completely. The woman's rapier collided against his side, and she smirked victoriously as Ekri grunted against the force of her blow. The smirk died a moment later, as she felt an ironclad grip form around her sword hand forearm. Ekri lifted her off the ground, her legs dangling uselessly as she was hoisted into the air. Ekri grinned maliciously at the woman, who clawed at his arm and kicked at his chest. Then, in one fluid motion, Ekri slammed the lithe woman down on the ground like a rag doll, her head slapping against the ground painfully as unconsciousness settled over her.

"See?" Ekri whispered petulantly to no one. "Completely non-lethal."

Skoto met the blade of a grunt with the pole of glaive, the two metals sounding off like bells as the blade collided with the metal pole. A serene expression was etched onto Skoto's face as he dipped low, sweeping the legs of his foe out from underneath him before following up with a strike from the blunt side of his blade. With a dull thud the man was knocked into unconsciousness. Skoto let out a hum of content, scanning for another opponent in the fray. His eyes met with a shorter man with a tail similar to that of a rat. In his right hand he held a curved dagger, in his off hand a small pistol. With a wicked grin the man pointed the gun at Skoto, firing frantically. Anticipating the fire, Skoto leapt high into the air, twisting his body in an attempt to dodge the hail of gun-fire. He was unsuccessful, a few rounds clipping his arm as he brought his glaive down towards the man. With a cackle, the man swerved to the side of the blade, before springing up into a leap of his, both legs poised at Skoto's head. Just as his boots were about to collide, Skoto dipped low allowing the man to fly over his head. He landed in a crouch, swiveling around to grin at Skoto.

"Ahhh, there's nothing quite like closing the distance on a pole arm user." He cackled with glee, "You're so good at range, but you are horrendous up close and personal, aren't you?"

"One would think so," Skoto replied, his tone serene. A sheen of aura coated his arm, and the glaive's pole compressed from the normal six feet to three. The thin lines on the surface of the blade broke apart, allowing the blade to fold outward into a concave shape. Skoto spun his glaive turned scythe backwards into a reverse grip, the pointed edge turned towards the ground facing ahead. "I like to think there's a bit more to me, however."

Eyeing the eerie weapon, the man couldn't help but wet his now dry lips staring at the razor thin edge. However, he seemingly swallowed his fear a moment later, starting a charge at Skoto. Skoto responded by bringing his scythe up in a diagonal swing, which the man narrowly avoided by leaning back. However, this left the sharpened pommel pointed directly at him, a realization made seconds late by grunt. Skoto stabbed forward, cutting into the top of his shoulder as the rat-faunus back pedaled to safety. Skoto followed quickly after, this time allowed his scythe to arc downwards towards the fleeing foe. The Fang lackey valiantly attempted to jump backwards to avoid the curved blade, but the feeling of cold metal pressing upon his back told him he'd failed. White hot agony lanced across his back as Skoto raked the scythe along his back, leaving a fairly large laceration on his back. The man fell to the ground a moment later, shock setting in quickly. Skoto let out a long, calm breath before scanning for more opponents.

However, his eyes scanned the entirety of the makeshift battlefield, only a single White Fang member remained standing. The leader from before, his spear discarded, was sluggishly swinging his clawed-fists at Khai; his breath heavy and short wheezes. Khai simply moved slowly, avoiding the tired slashes easily. The man collapsed to his knees a moment later, his tired gasps turning to quiet sobs. His hands clutched at the earth, while his head hung low.

"Why?" He eventually choked out. His head rose, and the man violently tore off the mask covering his face – revealing his weathered face. His hair was thin and gray, and matted with sweat. His eyes were bloodshot, though one could make out a dark brown in his iris. His skin sagged, and was like wrinkled leather. Tears streamed down his face, an anguished grimace carved onto his face. They boys recognized this man. He lived on the outskirts of town in a small hut. They didn't know him well for certain – though that could be said for most residents of the town.

Khai stared for a moment, before quietly answering.

"...That question never has an answer you want to hear, old timer." Khai whispered back.

"You owe it to me," he hissed. "You owe it to me, and you owe it to _them._ You killed them all without showing even a single ounce of mercy! _Why?!_ "

Khai hands dropped listlessly to his sides, his eyes closed as he took a hard breath in his eyes opening as he let out the breath.

"I was born into a noble family," he began. "Back when that still meant something, when the four continents were ruled by kings, not councils. My father was made a vassal to the king of Vale, and was granted a generous amount of land – they called it a 'duchy' back then. My father took that duchy and cultivated the soil, eventually creating one of the largest source of agricultural the kingdom had ever seen. One that made my father, and the king, a great deal of lien. My father used this lien to purchase more and more land from neighboring dukes, until he owned all of the farmland in Vale."

"All of that farmland – my father couldn't afford to hire all of the people he needed to work the fields. So he turned to the greatest source of cheap, mass labor we had back then, Faunus."

"They weren't certainly weren't _slaves,_ but they weren't paid as well or protected by laws like non-faunus were. You could employ five faunus laborers for the same pay that one human made. You could force a Faunus laborer to work twelve hours a day to get a base paycheck. When they didn't make ends meet on whatever product you were producing, you were allowed to...punish them accordingly. My father didn't start like that, my mother wasn't a fan of how Faunus were treated – a rarity in those days. But he began making more money than he ever had. To this day, he remains among the top ten wealthiest families in the world – surpassed only by big names like Schnee Dust Company."

"My father eventually became twelve percent of the profit that Vale made. It was around this time, that I was born. That was," Khai put a hand to his chin in thought. "...a hundred years ago, twenty years before the Great War started."

"My birth killed my mother in the process, and my father was, supposedly, never the same after that. Money became the only thing he really ever cared about, and he I could never get along because of it. He was near _fanatic_ about his income. How he make more, how he could spend less, every investment had to end up in profit for him otherwise he wouldn't make it. And with my mother no longer in the picture, he became more...harsh with his employee's."

"I grew up watching my father treat faunus like they were property. It became normal for me to see a Faunus whipped, called horrible names, and walked over like they were trash. It became normal, _so I started doing it too._ "

Khai chuckled bitterly, "For a very, very long time I thought of faunus as nothing but trash beneath my feet, to be walked on or discarded as I pleased. It was all I had ever known them to be. That didn't make it _right,_ I just couldn't understand that it was _wrong._ "

"Then the Great War came around, and as an acting vassal for the king, I was called to serve. Things were different then, there weren't 'huntsmen' and Vale had a military. I went off to serve when I came of age at sixteen, and I saw the war through to it's end in Vacuo as a twenty year old."

"The war made me realize things about myself. I saw so many fathers thinking of their sons, and I was _jealous_ of that. I was so upset and mad that my father consistently, and constantly chose money over his own son. I wanted him to be proud of me, at the very least. I kept telling myself that, when the war ended I would go home and try to make things right with him – we'd had a falling out when I left to serve."

A hollow look passed over Khai's face, his body sagging as a sort of unseen weight pressed down on his shoulders.

"The minute I arrived back in Vale, I received word that my father had been murdered in his sleep by one of his workers; stealing away into the night after killing him."

"I was crushed. I screamed and cried, because now I was alone in the world. My mother died when I was born, my friends all died in the war, my father died when I returned. I swore I'd find the faunus responsible, and do unto him what had been done to me. I spent years searching. All I had to go off was this: the man had a birthmark on his palm and his faunus trait – bear. I spent months chasing after every single bear faunus my father had ever employed. Eventually I found him in a small hamlet on the outskirts of Vacuo. Only about twenty people in the Hamlet. He'd settled down there with his wife, who'd given him a son. A young man that had his big, brown eyes, just like this father. I...you know what happened next."

"I left the hamlet, and used the last of my lien to pay off the local militia into labeling it as another casualty of the grimm. Though the great war had ended, many people still weren't fond of-"

"Stop."

Maddie's voice resounded throughout the clearing. She stood behind the four boys, who quickly separated; clearing a path as she walked through them. Khai's eyes widened once more, as if he'd forgotten about her. His head hung low to his chest as he saw the look on her face, staring at him.

Disgust.

"Just...just stop, Khai; you've said enough."

"Maddie….I-"

"I'm sorry?" she seethed. "Is that what you were going to say? I'm sorry?"

With a growl she seized the collar of his jacket. "You don't _get_ to be sorry. Those people were _innocent,_ Khai. This man, was innocent; his mother was innocent. You took those people's lives into your hands and crushed them for no reason!"

She angrily brought her hand against the side of his face, her nails biting into his cheek viciously. Khai's aura did not defend him, and blood dripped down the side of his face as he stared regretfully into her furious orbs; which had begun to water in angry tears.

"I thought I could trust you, Khai...I _defended_ you against these people..."

A terrible silence descended, weighing on each person there. Skoto, for the first time in his short life, was at an honest loss for words. He would have never imagined Khai to be capable of something so...heinous. Of course, he had his reasons for doing so...but even so, this was...unthinkable. Skoto opened his mouth to say something, anything, but no words came.

The silence was broken, however. Deep, menacing growls sounded from the forestry behind the orphanage. Like a sinister orchestra, deep bellows and barks blared from within the darkness of the forest. Crimson eyes peered ominously from the shadows, the unmistakable bone-white armor plating standing out against the inky darkness of the forest.

Like moths to a flame, the grimm had come.


	5. It Comes

**Hello again, Saint here! With my longest chapter to date. The nature of the chapter called for a bit more length.**

 **A bit of bad news this week - my boss is calling me to work Saturday and Sunday with 10-12 hours days for the rest of this week, possibly into next week. That means the next chapter might be a little late, unfortunately. I'll do my best to maintain my schedule, but if it's a little delayed don't be too surprised.**

 **We're also slowly, but steadily reaching a point where I'm comfortable putting these characters in with the cast. I've said it before - I've seen quite a few stories that place their OC's in right at the start of the show. That can work just fine, but I want to try out this route for these boys. I really think I can get some interesting stuff this way.**

 **That should do it for this AN, once again, thank you for taking the time to read and review.**

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The grimm are mysterious creatures. Despite their perpetual existence alongside humanity, from seemingly ancient times, not much is known of their origins to this day. They do not demonstrate any need of food or water. They lack any sort of visual reproductive system, yet outnumber humanity by the thousands. They can sense negativity, and are drawn to it. Age does not inhibit them as it does with all living things, it merely makes them more efficient; more experienced, even. Is it so far-fetched, then, that humanity would attribute their creation to a malevolent god? Their presence seemed forced, as if they had suddenly been plucked from some horrible abyss. How humans even survived long enough to discover dust, is a mystery in and of itself.

It was miraculous indeed, that humanity discovered dust. It's discovery and subsequent use allowed for humanity to create towns and villages, that eventually became grand cities. These cities became four kingdoms, four safe havens that would allow for humanity to grow even further.

This, was no safe haven.

This was the frontier, far removed from both Vale and Vacuo. Far removed from any sort of aid.

It makes sense that frontier towns are more liable to grimm attacks – the inhabitants willingly place themselves closer to their universal foe, confrontation would be inevitable. Though the settlers are privy to one advantage, one not even the kingdoms can boast. More people produce more negativity, naturally drawing the grimm to the greatest amount of people. Therefore, fewer people produce less negativity – making the settlements harder to detect, in theory.

Not tonight.

It should have been obvious, in retrospect. The animosity of the crowd against an alleged faunus-killer, a battle ending in a nigh one sided victory, followed by their original accusations being proven true. It was only a matter of time, really.

Now, under under the watchful eye of a broken moon, a small hamlet faced humanity's oldest foe. Baleful red eyes peered hatefully from the darkness of the forest. Their bodies followed soon after, the murky forms blending into the night perfectly; if not for the bone armor covering their faces, and the spikes jutting from their forearms.

Skoto couldn't help but swallow the lump that formed in his throat. He and his brothers had faced the grimm before, their forms were not as terrifying once he realized how easily they were broken. Khai had brought the boys books with detailed descriptions of each known grimm. The boy's knew of each grimm, from the simple Beowulf to the massive Goliath. They could identify how old a grimm was through the many signs of battle left on it's person, how many plates of bone armor dotted it's virulent body. No, the boy's no longer feared any single grimm. Certainly not a single Beowulf or Ursa.

Though, a small _army_ of both, coupled with what looked to be a dozen or so Boarbatusks?

Skoto felt fear crawl up his spine, involuntarily shivering as he did so.

"Close your heart to it." Khai's voice deliberately, calmly spoke.

Skoto glanced at him, a questioning glint in his eyes.

"That fear you feel? Bury it deep. Deeper than anything you've ever buried." Khai drew his knife, palming it in a reverse grip. "If you're scared, it'll only attract more of them. Remember the chant I taught you."

Skoto wet his lips, turning to his brothers before murmuring.

"O' pallid moonlight, be my guide; against the grimm, and their endless tide."

They repeated the phrase a few more times as the grimm drew closer. With one last utterance, Skoto felt his breathing calm, and the fear crawling up his spine slid off him like a viscous liquid.

"Good. That's good." Khai murmured, sitting cross-legged. "Now, form a circle around the injured."

"What about the children?" Maddie's chimed in.

"That will be my job."

The grimm had completely surrounded the orphanage, no doubt attracted to the fear of the children within. Khai clasped his hands together, seemingly in prayer. His body became awash with a vivid, dark green; his eyes closed as deep breaths came from his person. With each breath, the forest around them shifted and pulsed. Like a tiny flame, beads of Khai's brilliant green aura spread to the canopy and flora.

Then, the forest moved.

Gnarled branches curled and flexed, as if they had suddenly sprung to life. Thorny bushes unraveled, slithering across the floor like great snakes. Tree's uprooted, using their limbs to swat at the grimm like insects. The forest moved as one, taking up residence along each wall of the orphanage; acting as a wooden bulwark against the grimm. A pack of Beowulf lunged past the swatting canopy, only to be met with serpentine thorns coiling around their throats; flailing the creatures around violently before tossing them back into the darkness from whence they came.

The boys watched as vines slithered up the sides of the orphanage, then cocking back, before smashing through the windows lining the rooms. The vines then reached within, gently plucking the scared children out through the shattered window.

"It's okay kids!" Maddie yelled out, "Khai's got you, everything is gonna be okay!"

"...Whoa..." Ekri breathed, "...That's... _awesome_ …"

"Focus!" Skoto cried, "they come!"

First, came a horde of Beowulf. Powerful muscles flexing as they charged towards the impromptu circle the boys had formed. Alva loosed three arrows in rapid succession, the arrows piercing through their unprotected neck. Gooey black ichor spurting from it's mouth as it clutched at it's throat feebly, before collapsing to the ground in a heap. Giving him no time to rest, another Beowulf leapt over the corpse of it's brother with a snarl, bringing it's claws down in an arc towards Alva. Alva ducked under the swipe, shifting his bow into it's sword form in the process. As the two limbs connected with a clang, Alva sank his sword into the Beowulf's chest, until naught but the hilt was sticking out. Alva pulled his blade out and rolled backwards out of the way of the corpse as it toppled to the ground. Without paused Alva shifted his sword back to bow form, and began loosing more arrows towards the horde.

"Always w-wondered why Khai told us to go for the throat," Alva murmured. "Now I think I get why.."

Ekri brought his hammer down in an arc, smashing into a the top of a charging Beowulf; the earth splintering and cracking as the Beowulf spasmed against the hammer. Ekri laughed as he hefted his hammer out of the Beowulf's caved skull, poising it on his shoulder as he did so. Fixing his eyes for a new opponent, Ekri's eyes locked with an Ursa. The creature growled, spittle dripping down past it's lips as it reared up on it's hind legs. Responding with a growl of his own, Ekri swung his hammer from the left, catching the creature against it's burly torso. The creature merely snarled, dipping it's head low; attempting to lock it's jaws around Ekri's shoulder. Ekri felt the creatures hot, squalid breath through his clothing; the stench making him gag. Ekri pivoted to the left and, tensing his legs, brought his shoulder forward into the creatures torso. The Ursa cried out, and stumbled backwards; but righted itself quickly, affixing it's hateful eyes on Ekri.

"So you can take a bit more, can't you big guy?" Ekri challenged, feeling a thrum of aura pulse through his arm. The curved side of Ekri's hammer ignited, a steady spout of flames ejecting from the spike.

Ekri swung his hammer low, and as he swung the flames intensified, lifting the hammer with greater intensity towards the jaw of Ursa. With a mighty crack the hammer found it's mark, the Ursa lifted off it's feet; landing painfully on it's back. Ekri's hammer arced behind him, burying itself in the earth behind him. Maddie yelped as the hammer landed dangerously close to her patients.

"Sorry!" Ekri hissed, worry flashing across his face. Once he was assured Maddie had not been caught by his carelessness, Ekri glared at the downed Ursa. Ekri flipped the hammer around, and ignited the hammer again. It lifted off the ground, arcing towards the downed Ursa. With a terrible bang, a small explosion rocked the area around Ekri, and buried the Ursa in a small crater. Hot air rushed past Ekri's ears, and gently billowed the grass around the crater. Lifting his hammer once more, Ekri victoriously grinned at the burned and pulverized corpse.

"Explosions are the best part of _any_ story."

Lavi flipped over the swipe of a Beowulf's claws, his dagger gleaming in the moonlight before he sunk the dagger deep into the base of it's neck. The Beowulf howled in pain as it bucked around wildly, Lavi clutching on his to steady himself. With his free hand, he stabbed his short sword forward into the space behind the Beowulf's ear, his sharp sword piercing easily through the vulnerable space. It's howls of pain sparked briefly, before it sputtered and sank to the floor in a heap. Lavi pulled his swords from the Beowulf's hide, before leaping off as an Ursa's claws came down upon the deceased Beowulf.

"Sorry, but you're a bit too slow to even _consider_ hitting me."

The Ursa snarled angrily, it's hackles raising past it's lip; exposing it's rows of jagged, sharp teeth. It swatted the corpse of it's deceased brethren out of the way, the body bouncing along the floor before impacting against a tree with a wet smack. Then, it charged, it's impressive hind-legs carrying it at a respectable speed for something so large.

To Lavi, the creature may as well have been moving through mud.

Lavi met the creatures charge with one of his own, his legs tensing as he dashed along the forest floor. Just as the two were about to meet, Lavi ducked under the beast; sliding on his knees underneath it, while simultaneously dragging his sword along the vulnerable belly of the beast. Black blood oozed split from the wound in thick, heavy streams as the Ursa moaned pitifully; before slumping to the ground. Lavi grimaced at the thick ooze covering him, even as it slowly evaporated.

Skoto's glaive stabbed through the upper mouth of a Beowulf as it growled, the noise stopping short as the blade jutted out the back of it's head. Then, in one fluid motion, Skoto removed his blade from the creatures mouth; then it's limp head from it's body. Skoto moved with grace; an elegance that seemed unsuited for a young man. None could deny it's effectiveness, however. Skoto dodged to the left of a charging Boarbatusk, his glaive shifting to the curved point of his scythe before it was lodged deep into the creatures lower jaw; piercing up through into it's skull.

Lavi leaped back, panting deeply. He landed next to Alva, who let an arrow loose from his bow as Lavi spoke.

"How is he doing that?" Lavi asked, pointing at Skoto.

Alva took a moment to glance at Skoto, who held his scythe in a reverse grip; before letting the blade fly and stab deeply into another Beowulf.

"...I...don't know…" Alva replied, pressed for breath as well.

"He's...moving so differently. Was he always this good?"

"No..." Alva murmured, delivering another arrow to a charging Beowulf. His eyes widened, before he drew another arrow.

"Look out!"

Lavi turned to see a Boarbatusk, wound up into a ball, spinning like a wheel directly at them.

Lavi made to move, but a sudden pain in his arm caused him to cry out. Turning to his left, he met face to face with a Beowulf that had latched it's jaw round his forearm, holding him in place. Lavi quickly brought his short sword through the side of it's head, the body slumping to the ground as it's jaw released it's iron like grip.

Lavi swiveled his head around, only to see the spinning Boarbatusk a mere five feet from him. Lavi brought up his arms in a cross-guard, resolving to take the hit; the beast was far to close to attempt to dodge.

Then, Ekri's hammer ignited.

With a vicious swing, Ekri's hammer met with the Boarbatusks mid-charge. His limbs shook, nearly vibrating under the pressure of the beasts charge. His feet sunk into the earth, fire spewing violently from the back of the hammer. With a valiant cry, Ekri sent the beast's balled form flying backwards into the forest. It's body dug a deep trench into the ground, before rolling into a tree where a nasty crack resounded. The Boarbatusk slumped to the floor, both tusks shattered, it's lower jaw grossly unhinged from it's face.

"What're...you nerds…talking about...that is…. _so_...important…?" Ekri huffed, bracing himself on the pole of his hammer.

"Never mind that," Alva dismissed, "Are you two all right?"

"Feeling...fine." Ekri got his breathing under control, and hefted his hammer into a ready position. "These things just don't stop coming..."

"I'll be fine in a second," Lavi huffed. "Just gotta catch my breath."

Skoto made a retreating stab, falling back towards the four as an Ursa's claws narrowly missed his torso.

"Their numbers...will not break. We may not have a second." Skoto huffed, wiping away beads of sweat that had formed across his forehead.

"The whole 'endless tide' thing is getting old _really_ fast." Lavi mumbled, nursing his arm.

"We won't last much longer this way," Alva murmured warily, as the grimm's numbers replenished rapidly.

"More are coming, ready yourselves."

An Ursa stalked forward, before rising on it's haunches; it's form easily dwarfing the huddled boys. The boys assumed a fighting posture, despite exhibiting obvious signs of weariness. The Ursa's jaw opened, a mighty bellow rising up through it's throat.

A spear sailed through the air, whistling overhead the boys as it flew, piercing through the Ursa's mouth; out through the back of it's head. The beast fell back, the spear remaining firmly lodged within even as it toppled over. The boy's heads whirled around to see the leader of the faunus, arm outstretched.

"Brothers and sisters of the White Fang." he spoke resolutely "I don't know about you, but I tire of seeing children fight in our stead." He stalked over to his spear and wrenched it free from the corpse. "We'll all die if we don't work together here."

"But...none of you have aura," Lavi uttered. "Without it you'll-"

"Die?" A White Fang member scoffed, "As opposed to you kids tiring out, then getting killed anyway?"

"...But…"

"We h-have a chance that way," Alva muttered, the words bitter on his tongue. "If we keep going on like this, we'll be overrun anyway. They w-won't stop coming anytime soon, we have to evacuate."

With that, a terse silence fell over the group. Evacuations weren't a foreign concept to settlers and frontiersmen. Expanding into wild territories was difficult, and dangerous. They were liable to be overrun by the grimm at any moment; all it took was one person having a terrible day, and stewing in that negativity to draw in a few grimm. Those few grimm drew even more negativity out of the villagers, attracting even more grimm. A vicious cycle that made frontier living difficult, often leading to the entire populace either dying to grimm attacks; or evacuating the settlement. Usually, when a settlement evacuates, the kingdom can send bullheads to assist with the process; sometimes even deploying a hunter team to protect the settlers as they were extracted.

There was one problem with this method, however.

"We aren't in contact with Vale, kid."

"I'm well aware, Khai had to travel three days to get in contact with the person who made our weaponry." Alva peered deep into the dark of the forest, "That's our best bet. From there, we can contact Vale and evacuate properly."

Deep from within the forest, a piercing shriek echoed throughout the air. The screech was inhuman, alien from even the growls and bays of the grimm surrounding them. Silence stretched over the group like a thick, heavy blanket. Even the grimm had gone silent, peering into the forest behind them curiously.

"What the hell was th-" Ekri began, fear lilting his voice.

Then it came.

A gaunt, clawed limb reached out from behind a thick trunk, impacting against it with a heavy thud. The limb was the same inky darkness of the grimm, but was vaguely humanoid in structure. The claws dug through the trunk of the tree easily, as if it were made of paper. The rest of the creature skittered into view a moment later, the movement unnaturally fast. The creature stood tall, it's head brushing against the leaves of the canopy above. It's entire body was reminiscent of a human, were not for the two ivory antlers jutting from it's deer-like skull. It's torso, much like it's limbs, was grossly emaciated; the same bone armor of the grimm covered the creatures limbs like vambraces and boots. Thick white spikes wrapped around it's abdomen, as if the creature had ribs jutting outside it's body. It opened it's maw, revealing row upon of row of jagged sharp teeth; an unnaturally long tongue slithered out, seemingly tasting the air. It's eyes locked with the groups, the sockets of it's skull gleaming a malevolent red. It's emaciated chest inflated like a balloon, it's head rearing back towards the moonlit sky.

Another screeched spilled from it's maw, the occupants bringing their hands to their ears in pain. Glass leftover from the broken windows shattered completely. Even the grimm appeared to be affected, Beowulf rolling around on the ground in pain as the shriek cleaved through the air.

As the cry tapered off, the creature grabbed hold of the tree with both of it's claws, the sharp appendages digging into the bark easily. After a moment of struggling, the tree was uprooted; dirt flying off in every direction as the creature hefted the tree above it's head.

Then, with a great heave, the tree was sent sailing through the air.

Children cried out in fear, huddling against Maddie as she put herself between them. Curses flew from the White Fang members lips as the made to move away. The boys wordlessly brought their weapons up, preparing to cut the tree to mitigate the damage it would cause.

At the last moment, vines slithered up, wounding around the airborne trunk with remarkable speed. Many vines snapped and tore, but as one snapped against the force of the tree another two took it's place. Eventually, the trunk stood suspended from the vines. Khai groaned in exertion as the vines dropped the trunk, a loud cracking noise resounded as the tree impacted the earth; a mere ten feet from the group.

"What...in the name of the goddess, is that?" Alva

"New plan." Khai panted, "When I give the word, you will run north. After three days of traveling, you will come across a river with a bridge. You will cross this bridge, then destroy it. Further north is the agriculture district. From there, find a scroll and dial this number. Ask for a man named Ozpin. He will help you." He wrenched a loose, small piece of paper from his pocket, handing it to Skoto.

"..What are you-"

"You four," he gestured to the them. "Are the best thing that ever happened to me. I did a great deal of bad things in my time. Raising you four, is one of the few good things I did with my life." The beast charged forward, it's footsteps leaving deep marks in the dirt despite their speed. Vines uprooted from the ground, grabbing at the monsters legs; halting it in it's tracks.

The boys stood, jaws agape as they took in his words.

"Maddie," Khai grunted. "You changed what the faunus were for me. You took the evil my father planted in me, and tore it down in a matter of months. You freed me from a pain I thought I'd never be rid of. Thank you."

Maddie's eyes glistened as she stared, a bright smile was on Khai's face; even as sweat poured down his brow. His vivid aura was waning, no doubt exhausted from utilizing his semblance for so long. The beast broke free from it's bonds, charging once again on all fours. It's claws tearing up great chunks of earth from the ground.

"Now go! Turn back for nothing!"

"We won't leave yo-" Skoto began, his voice wavering.

"So they can follow and kill us all then? Do not be foolish, boy!"

"I can...we can-"

"GO!"

Maddie grabbed the boys shoulders, and forced them around. After a moment, the group ran into the forest. One by one they disappeared into the darkness of the forest, the boys slaughtering any grimm that pursued. Once the last form had disappeared into the forest, Khai turned to the right, eyeing the faunus leader with a strange look in his eye. A horde of grimm stalked around them in a circle, the emaciated grimm at the back of the circle; it's long arms leaving small trenches it the dirt as it skulked about.

"You picked a shitty place to die, old timer," Khai murmured.

"You're the old man," he grumbled back. "This feud brought on by our fathers ought to end here. I'm tired of all this." The man sighed, as if a great weight had been freed from his shoulders. "I'm not leaving anything behind. But you're leaving behind four great boys. Think they'll be okay? Without you?"

Khai chuckled, palming his knife in a reverse grip. Absentmindedly reaching up to feel the skin of a scar on his cheek, smiling warmly as he did so.

"They'll be fine," he said after a moment.

The creature unleashed another ear piercing shriek as the words fell from Khai's lips. Then, it charged, and the grimm moved as one. With a cry of their own, the two men tore into battle. Khai whirled his knife, flipping and twisting out his way through the horde; the grimm falling like flies at his blade. The unnamed faunus leader wielded his spear expertly, and dexterously; the thick man enduring the force of the grimm like a shield wall. Each slain grimm was replaced by two more, but the pair tirelessly fought on; till blood dripped down their forms The men fought for hours, till the light of morning peaked over the horizon.

Then, as if it were bored of their struggle, the creature fell upon them.

It brought it's spindly arms down on the faunus from behind, and the man formed a small crater in the ground; the sound of splintering bones echoing throughout the clearing. The creature lifted it's fists from him, tilting it's head curiously at his fragility. Khai cursed, as a passing Boarbatusk slammed into his leg. A horrible crack vibrated up through his leg, and Khai fell to the floor bringing his knife down on the Boarbatusks eye as he did so. A pack of Beowulf fell upon him, tearing great pieces from him. Khai kicked, and swung his blade. The pack lay dead at his side, as his life blood spurt from him in thick streams. The creature made to fall upon him next, and with a desperate shove of his hand Khai brought his hand out, vines wrapping around the creature; it's claws mere centimeters from his heart. His hand shook and strained with effort, sweat and blood pouring down his forehead into his eyes; a painful burning sensation erupting a moment later. The creatures claw inched closer and closer, it's putrid breath slogging over his face like fog.

Khai smiled, before relaxing his hand.

 _They have each other._

The vines fell away.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The boys ran north, till the group saw the sun came up over the horizon. As they reached a clearing, they fell to their knees; heavy breaths passing through their lips. The dew of morning made the blades of grass gleam and shimmer. The morning light had transformed the ominous thicket into a sprawling garden. The settlers were strewn about the clearing, gathering their strength. Maddie was tending to the wounded, while a few members of the White Fang were looking after the children from the orphanage. Truly, a peaceful scene.

Yet the air was heavy.

Tears fell upon the blades of grass, as the four boy's gasped for breath.

"We...can't...cry." Skoto choked out, "it will attract the grimm."

"I'm trying," Lavi bit back, his shoulders shaking. "W-What would Khai do?"

"...He'd t-tell some c-crappy pun, to get us all l-laughing again," Alva replied.

The boys were silent a moment, before Ekri sniffled, wiping at his eyes furiously. "I g-got one," he muttered.

His brothers looked at him, expectant looks on their tear-stricken faces.

"A dyslexic man walks into a bra."

The boys were silent for a moment, before a few watery chuckles escaped Skoto.

"O-of course you l-laugh at that," Alva ground out, his head pressed against the dirt.

"M-me next," Lavi uttered. "Did you hear about the circus that went up in flames the other day? It was in tents."

More watery chuckles came from all of the boys, the laughter growing in strength.

"..Ha, h-how about t-this one? I once ate a watch – it was _time_ consuming."

Real laughter fell from their lips, even as tears continued to drip down their faces.

Skoto coughed, clearing his throat to speak. The boys feel silent, as Skoto spoke. "I had to clean out my spice rack and found everything was too old and had to be thrown out. What a waste of thyme."

The boys fell into an exuberant laughter, Skoto throwing his head back; his hands on his stomach. Alva had his head pressed to the ground, his fists banging against the grass as laughter fell from his lips. Ekri covered his eyes with his sleeve as watery laughs escaped past his lips. Lavi was on his back his, legs kicking as he tried, unsuccessfully, to stifle his laughter.

The boys lay there on the clearing, laughing at horrible jokes; tears never stopped falling from their eyes, even as genuine smiles etched themselves onto their faces. The jokes continued well on for an hour, before they fell into a comfortable silence. No words needed to be spoken. They sat and remembered.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

" _Alright brat," Khai chuckled, wiping sweat from his forehead. "That's enough for today."_

 _Ekri let out a groan of relief, falling onto his back. Light bruises covered his face and forearms, dirt and grime coating his clothing._

" _You sure can take a hit, can't you kid?"_

 _"I'm...the tank, of course... I can take a hit." His breath came out in short gasps, his chest heaving with each gulp of air._

 _"It's almost cathartic," Khai stretched, his stiff joints cracking as he did so. "Beating on your ridiculously huge aura."_

 _"Yeah..." he panted, his breathing leveling. "Cathartic..."_

 _"I mean, I couldn't do this with any of the other boys. They can't take a hit like you can."_

 _Ekri glanced at Khai curiously._

 _"I don't just mean that in the fist on face sorta way, either. You handle my critique better than any of them. Not that any of them handle it badly," he quickly amended. "It's just, I notice the little things. When I tell Lavi his form was off I can see he thinks I'm disappointed in him. When Alva messes up his footing he thinks I'm mad at him. Heck, even Skoto gets angry with himself when he doesn't get something right away. You don't ever seem bothered at all. Why is that?"_

 _"...I thought about it a little bit myself," Ekri began, resting his hands on his stomach. "You're only being harsh cause you want me to live. You want to beat me down yourself, so no one else can later on. It's not like you hate me or anything, it's more of the opposite really. You like me enough to give a damn when I do something wrong._ _"_

 _Ekri took a long breath after his short spiel, his noise twitching as it caught a vile scent assaulted his nostril. Raising his arm, he sniffed at his pits, gagging a moment later._

" _I smell like Boarbatusk shit."_

 _Khai laughed,_ " _That, my crass student, is the smell of success."_

" _...Really?"_

" _No, of course not." Khai chided mockingly, "Success is strictly limited to Nevermore droppings. Have you learned nothing?"_

 _Ekri hid his smiling face behind a sleeve as he wiped sweat from his forehead._

" _Screw you, Uncle Khai."_

 _o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o_

" _You're a pretty good shot with that bow, kiddo."_

" _Thank you, Uncle. I've been practicing." Alva gestured to his drawing fingers, which had bandages wrapped around them._

 _Alva nocked three arrows, firing them in rapid succession. The first found it's mark in the center, while the other two hit the inner ring of the makeshift bulls-eye._

 _Khai whistled, impressed. "Nice shot." Reaching into his pack, Khai pulled out a stack of plates with bulls-eyes hastily painted on them in bright red paint. "Think you can hit a moving target?"_

 _Alva nodded, a determined glint in his eye._

" _Well alright then," Khai reared back, before launching the plate into the air. "Pull!"_

 _Alva notched an arrow and, a moment later, the sound of shattering plate echoed throughout the forest._

" _Alright!" Khai cheered, "But how about three at once?"_

 _Alva looked hesitantly, "I don't know about thre-"_

" _Huh? Where'd all that bravado go? What are you, chicken?"_

 _Alva drew his bow._

 _Khai smiled, and threw the plates into the air; the shattered pieces falling to the earth a moment later._

" _Haha! Nice job kidd-"_

" _Khai!" Maddie's voice called, "Where are the new plates?"_

 _Khai paled, and turned to Alva before whispering_

" _Run."_

 _o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o_

" _This isn't fair, Uncle Khai." Lavi whined pitifully, pointing at his a small wooden dagger in his hand._

" _What about it isn't fair?" Khai asked curiously, twirling his wooden long sword._

 _Lavi deadpanned at the much longer weapon._

" _Wha-? This thing?" He pointed at the sword, then sighed in mock exasperation. "All right then, come here quick."_

 _Lavi ran across the forest floor, appearing before Khai in but a few moments._

" _Cool, let me see your dagger a second."_

 _Lavi handed Khai the dagger, who then proceeded to bring it down with considerable force on his head._

" _OW!" Lavi yelped, "What the heck was that fo-OW!" A second bonk sounded as Khai brought the long sword down on his head, who then looked at Lavi curiously._

" _Did the dagger hurt any less?"_

 _Lavi rubbed at the sore spot on his head, glaring petulantly at Khai._

" _...No"_

" _Oh, good then. Here you go." Khai offered the dagger back to Lavi, who swiped it out of his hands swiftly._

" _Cause the way you were talking, you made it sound like the dagger would hurt less."_

" _Of course it wouldn't hurt less!" Lavi exclaimed, "You have way more reach!"_

" _Yes, I do," Khai stated plainly. "What do you have?"_

" _This short, stupid, dagger." Lavi glared at the weapon in his hand. A small rock flew across the clearing, hitting Lavi on the nose._

" _Ouch! Will you stop hitting me already!"_

" _Sure," he curled his finger in a come hither motion. "Soon as you make me."_

 _Lavi growled in frustration, before dashing at Khai, ducking under his swung to shove his dagger into Khai's side._

" _There he goes!" Khai cheered, "You finally got it!"_

 _Lavi looked at Khai, a curious expression on his face._

" _Got what?"_

" _You...decided to use your speed to close the gap….right?"_

 _A look of realization flashed across Lavi's face, before red rushed to his face in embarrassment._

 _Khai clutched at his sides, before robust laughter sprang from his lips. After a moment, Lavi's voice joined in on the laughter. Khai's hand came down on Lavi's head, roughly tousling his hair as the two laughed._

" _Never change kid."_

 _o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o_

" _Skoto! Wake up! You're having a nightmare!"_

 _Skoto's flailing body shot up out of bed, his arms lashing out at Khai. His fists impacted uselessly against his hands, Khai used the leverage to pull the child against his side. Wrapping his arm around his shoulder, Khai allowed Skoto to catch his breath; his body shaking like a leaf._

" _Sheesh kid," Khai muttered. "What is it with you and nightmares? I get one or two every now and then, but this is just crazy. I'm starting to think we should get you to talk to som-"_

" _No!" Skoto uttered against his side, burrowing into Khai's cloak._

 _Khai looked surprised at the outburst, before sighing tiredly. "Okay kid, you don't have to say anything. But I'm at a loss, if I don't know what's wrong I can't help."_

 _Skoto gripped tightly at his cloak, before swallowing nosily._

" _I...I dream of fire. It burns and burns, but I can't stop it. I can't wake up, no matter how much it hurts."_

 _His tone, which usually conveyed nothing, was overcome with emotion. Khai tightened his grip on Skoto's shoulder._

" _I just want to sleep, Uncle Khai."_

" _I know kid," Khai grimaced, before a look of realization crossed his face. "Hang tight, I'll be right back. He stood, walking out of the bedroom; shutting the door softly behind him._

 _He returned a moment later, a blanket clutched in his arms. The blanket was a light blue, and shimmered softly in the darkness of the room._

" _When I was very young," Khai whispered. "I was carrying boiling water and split it on myself. The pain was...intense, but the worst part was laying in bed on the burned skin. It hurt and ached all night long, and I couldn't sleep because of it."_

 _Khai put Skoto's hand on the blanket, and a small gasp escaped Skoto's lips as he found the blanket was cool to the touch._

" _My father gave me this blanket. He told me that my mother used ice dust, and dust weaving to knit it for me while she was pregnant with me. It's the only thing I have left of her, it's been so long...I almost forgot I had it."_

 _Khai stared almost reverently at the blanket, running his calloused hands over the soft fabric. Then, with a happy sigh, he passed the blanket to Skoto._

 _Skoto's eyes widened, he looked nervously up at Khai._

" _...But, this is your mother's...are you sure?"_

 _Khai smiled, his white smile visible in the darkness of the room._

" _She would want you to have it." He held out the blanket, "Go on, use it." A cheeky smiled wormed itself onto his face, "It's just collecting 'dust' anyway."_

 _A groan escaped Skoto's lips, "That was your worst one yet, Uncle Khai."_

 _Khai scoffed in mock indignation, before tossing the blanket over Skoto's head._

 _Skoto spread the blanket over his form, a content sigh escaping his lips as he stretched his legs underneath the blanket. The blanket was cool, but not cold like ice. It was as if someone was pouring chilled water over his form ceaselessly. Before he knew it, his eyes had closed in relaxation, soft breaths accompanying his departure to sleep._

 _Khai smiled down at the boy, a pleased grin on his face. He made for the door, stopping when he heard Skoto mumble tiredly._

" _Thanks...Uncle Khai."_

 _Khai smiled, but did not respond. He let the softly click shut behind him._

 _Skoto slept peacefully that night._

 _o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o_

The four boys awoke, when the sun sat low in the sky. As they rose, a few blades of grass stuck to their features drifted softly down to the earth. They blinked blearily, eyes focusing on the form of Maddie; who had a solemn expression on her face.

"I wish I could let you boys sleep longer, but we need to put more distance between us and that...thing." She shuddered lightly.

"What even _was_ that?" Lavi grumbled, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"I can say for certain it wasn't in any of Khai's books about grimm," Alva replied.

The implications of that statement suddenly hit the boys, a sudden chill crawling up their spines.

"Scientists discover new grimm all the time, right?" Ekri replied nervously.

"Yeah...and we're pretty far from Vale, too. It's not too _crazy_ to think a new species was on a mostly...explored…continent," Alva finished lamely.

"We'll think on it later," Skoto replied, adjusting his blanket around his neck. "Is everyone ready to go, Maddie?"

Maddie's eyes ran over the group of people, wordlessly counting their numbers. A look of confusion showed on her face a moment later.

"We're missing someone."

Ice crawled up the boy's spines.

"Did anyone just leave?!" Ekri called out, the villagers jolting in surprise as his voice boomed across the clearing.

"Ah, yes." A faunus man called out nervously a moment later. "My wife went to relieve herself, just about five minutes ago."

"Where!?"

Wordlessly, he pointed towards a particularly dense part of the thicket. The boys took off without a second word, grasping their weapons as they raced into the brush. Maddie's voice called after them, but they paid her no heed.

The light of morning had begun to fade, shadows worming their way back through the thicket. This almost made _it_ difficult to see.

Almost.

Blood pooled at the foot of a large tree, as if it were a small basin. It appeared to be freshly spilled, the ruby liquid almost glimmering in the last patches of sunlight. Carved into the tree were large, thick claw marks; spanning the entire width of the trunk. A thick spray of crimson had seemed to catch the tree itself, a large blotch staining the bark.

The boys stared at the stains, dismayed at the scene before them. Lavi tried valiantly to hold his dinner, but retched into the grass a moment later. Ekri paled and swallowed noisily, his hands shaking as he held his war-hammer. Alva looked away from the blood, kneeling down to pat Lavi on the back; trying to hide his shaking hands. Skoto's eyes seemed locked onto the sight, before he closed them harshly; his hands reaching up to cover his eyes. He shuddered lightly, before twisting his face into a solemn grimace; uncovering his eyes as he did so. When he re-opened them, there was a certain hardness to them that wasn't there before.

"...Shit..." Ekri finally mumbled.

Lavi did not chide his language.


	6. Flee into Night

**Hello again! Saint here. Sorry about the delay, but it couldn't be helped. Hopefully we'll be back on schedule from here on out, though.**

 **I've decided to start adding short AN's at the end of the chapter to discuss the contents of the chapter. Expect to see those from now on.**

 **I'll have more to say in a bit, but for now enjoy the chapter.**

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"She's….she...oh goddess..." Lavi moaned into the dirt, another fit of retching quickly overtaking his words.

"How did it track us?" Alva muttered angrily, grasping a fistful of hair in one hand.

"The children..." Skoto muttered, "They have not been taught to bury their emotions like we have. It must have picked up on them."

"Still...how did it catch up so quickly?" Lavi mumbled, wiping his mouth clean.

"We slept for too long," Ekri spat. "That was stupid of us."

"Judging from the sun, we slept from noon to three." Alva stated, peering up to the sun. "With a travel time for roughly six hours. It caught up in three."

"We can't run," Alva continued, fear lilting his voice. "We can't hide, we _certainly_ can't fight it. It's opening move was _uprooting_ a tree and then _throwing_ it."

"We don't need to fight it," Skoto declared. "We just need to survive until we reach the river. From there, if we destroy the bridge, it cannot follow."

"The river is two and half days from here," Alva replied, apprehension in his voice.

"I know," Skoto started, staring contemptuously at the claw marks in the tree.

"The villagers...how do we prevent it from reaching them?"

"We can't," came Skoto's immediate reply.

"What?" Lavi asked, incredulous. "Of course we can! We aren't going to let this happen again."

"Lavi..."

"W-we have to take responsibility, right? Our carelessness already got someone," he gagged as his eyes met the blood stains. "...G-Got someone killed, so we _aren't_ going to let it happen again. _"_

"Lav-"

" _Promise me,_ Skoto. No one else is going to die."

"I can't do that, Lavi. I _want_ to tell you that I'll protect them all. But look here," he gestured to the stains. "We've already lost one. She was gone for a mere _ten_ minutes. If you think that we can prevent the death of every single person here, when we could not protect a single woman, then you are a _fool."_

With that, the two began a staring contest. An unseen clash of wills, that left the two other brothers silent. It was poetic, in a way; the eldest and the youngest engaging in discord. Lavi's dark, coal eyes burning with emotion as they stared into Skoto's ashen eyes; the latter lacking seemingly any emotion at all. Finally, Skoto turned away, looking back towards the brush leading to the clearing.

"….We should go back. Maddie is getting worried, and we need to move."

"...Fine." Lavi huffed, picking himself up off the floor. Turning back once more towards the stains, his eye caught a glean within the blood on the floor. Suppressing his disgust, Lavi stepped within the puddle; and with one hand plucked a ring from the puddle. It was simple thing, a silver band with a small emerald gemstone set on the station. A few stray tears fell down his face for the unnamed woman, before he pocketed the ring. His three brothers watched silently as Lavi stepped from the puddle, his features frustrated and bitter. He stormed passed Skoto, brushing his shoulder harshly as he went. Ekri looked conflicted for a moment, before following after Lavi; placing a hand on Skoto's shoulder as he went.

Then, a few paces behind the younger brothers, Alva and Skoto followed; tracing their way back through the brush. They were silent as they marched along, Skoto walking along with Alva; Lavi with Ekri.

"...Was I too harsh?" Skoto suddenly whispered, his hardened eyes softening

Alva glanced over at his brother, then back forward to Lavi. He was silent for a moment, a contemplative look masking his features.

"...I don't think so. I think you said what needed to be said. We cannot save everyone."

"He seems to think we can," Skoto muttered bitterly.

"Maybe," Alva began speculatively. "It's possible we can save all of these people. That we can outsmart the beast, outrun it, prevent it from claiming more people. If we're careful, if we are quick enough. Perhaps we can." His fingers found the hilt of his sword, fingers closing around it till his knuckles turned white. "However, the alternative is just as plausible. You saw the creature, however briefly. It is faster and stronger than any other grimm we've ever faced." Alva's eyes glided across the forest, his sharp gaze searching for something unseen.

"What's more, it behaves strangely." His gaze found Skoto, "Have you known grimm to take the bodies of it's victims?"

Skoto shook his head in negative. The grimm had no need to eat, only mangling the corpses of their victims when they've ran out of living creature to kill.

"The body was moved," Alva began. "That much is obvious, but then, where is the evidence that it was moved? I searched while Lavi was...distracted. There were no drag-lines, no blood trails, nothing. I know the forest well, brother, were she carried off there would be some sort of sign." Apprehension slithered into his voice. "It's as if the creature knew to cover it's tracks, and _that..."_ he trailed off, lapsing into a terse silence.

"We should hurry."

Alva simply nodded, and the two brothers moved with greater haste; matching the pace of Lavi and Ekri.

After what seemed like an eternity, they pushed through the last bit of underbrush; the last vestiges of sunlight gleaming brightly. The villages were strewn about the clearing, whispers of dissent echoing throughout the crowd. Slowly, they began to take notice of the boys walking towards them; and the same man from earlier swiftly made his way to the boys; desperation etched onto his features.

"My wife...where is my wife?!"

Skoto simply shook his head.

"Oh...oh no...no..no, my sweet Amara, oh gods no…."

Lavi came forward, taking the ring from his pocket, the silver band glimmering in the sunlight. He placed the ring delicately into the man's shaking hands, and the man cradled it before falling to his knees.

"S-She...she said she would be right back…." he wiped furiously at his eyes, as sobs began to spill from his lips.

They stared helplessly at the man, his eyes glistening with unshed tears; staring down at the ring he held so carefully, as if it would shatter if he were to drop it.

Then, Skoto knelt and placed his hands on his shoulders; speaking in a quiet voice.

"I feel for you. I truly do. The man we left behind was the closest thing to a father I'll ever have." Skoto took a shuddering breath, tightening his grip on the man's shoulders. "But we must move. North, to the river; where we can mourn the lost properly."

The man's sobs began to stifle, before his glistening eyes looked up at Skoto.

"Her...her body, I must collect her bod-"

"There is no body. Only blood."

"...Oh gods," he heaved, palming his eyes.

Maddie came then, her eyes filled with fire.

"Never, _ever_ run off like that again." She began heatedly.

"We won't," Ekri replied softly. "We're sorry."

Her expression softened, and sorrow filled her features quickly.

"She's really…?"

"Yes. The ring was all we found."

Maddie bit back tears, bringing up a hand to cover her mouth.

"Did you know her?" Alva asked, concern etched into his voice.

"...We weren't close, but I bought our groceries from her." She began after taking a moment to compose herself. "I saw her every week, she and Hans moved here to celebrate their marriage."

Her eyes widened, before she brought herself closer to the boys; then spoke in a hushed tone.

"What killed her?"

"The creature from before," Alva whispered back. "There is no evidence...but it makes the most sense. We couldn't find her body. Have you ever seen a Beowulf or an Ursa move a corpse?"

"No..." Maddie contemplated, before fear gripped her tone.

"The children. What will we do about the children?"

"We will protect them," Lavi interjected confidently. "Not a single one of them are going to get hurt."

"We will do everything in our power," Alva amended quickly. "But Maddie, this beast… it is unlike any other we've ever seen."

She thought for a moment, tucking her brown locks behind her ear.

"Could you kill it?" she finally asked.

The three boys stared at her, a solemn expression marring each of their faces.

"It would be an uphill battle," Skoto interjected, rising with Amara's husband; who appeared to have composed himself. "It is much stronger and faster than any of us. If we pinned it down, and struck as one, maybe then." He made his way to the other three. "However, with any luck, we will not have to fight it at all." His eyes roamed the clearing. "Is everyone ready to move? We must make our way to the river quickly."

The villagers met his voice with looks of fear and apprehension. Their masks had been long discarded, revealing the faces of all of the people. Their features were scrunched in worry and fear, mumbles and whispers murmured through the clearing.

"Amara is dead, then?" One of them finally asked.

"Yes. Killed by the grimm. If we want to avoid her fate, we must go north, to the river leading into the agriculture district."

"Right," The man fidgeted, awkwardly glancing to the left, the ears upon his head rustling uncomfortably.

"...Is something wrong?"

"No – well, yes, but no?"

Skoto merely stared at the man expectantly.

"How are you not livid with us, boy?" another faunus asked, stepping forward. He gestured to his comrades, who wore guilty expressions. "We attacked your home. We attacked your uncle. We got him killed, because we were angry about a sin that didn't even occur in our lifetimes. He died protecting all of us, when we tried to kill him but moments before.

Skoto stared at him passively, he did not answer, however.

"Yes, this is partly your fault." Ekri's stated dryly, "And we hate you forever and ever. Can we go now? We don't have much daylight left."

"Oh," the man began, taken aback. "Then why even bother protecting us?"

Ekri grit his teeth, "Sometimes, when you are a huntsman. You'll have to save people you don't like. Sometimes, you may even have to save people that you hate. This, is one of those times. Your foolishness got our uncle killed, and I won't ever forget that." He clenched his fists, "But I will protect you, because that's what our uncle would have wanted." Ekri let out a harsh breath from between his clenched teeth, his body relaxing with the exhale. Then, tiredly, he motioned to the north. "Now, can we _please_ get moving?"

The man beckoned the rest of his people to follow. The children, coaxed by Maddie, were placed at the center of the group. The adults formed an impromptu circle around them, placing them in the middle. The four boys took up spots on each side of the 'herd', Alva towards the front; guiding them through the brush.

As the group traveled on, the sun began to sink further and further into the horizon. As the last bits of light began to fade, Alva squint his eyes to see. He held his hand out for the group to stop, before walking over to Skoto and speaking lowly.

"Skoto, soon we will not be able to see." he said, "We could make torches, but that would make us easier to spot."

Skoto mulled it over for a moment, before answering. "Make the torches. The children will be afraid, walking through the dark without light."

"They are faunus, are they not?"

"They are children, the light will comfort them; if only slightly."

"Very well," Alva conceded. "We'll need birch bark, then."

"Have them help you," Skoto replied, gesturing towards the group. "It will go much faster that way, and it will take their minds off the dark."

Alva nodded, beckoning the group around a tree. Skoto sat a few paces from the group, keeping watch on the dimly-lit forest.

"You'll need to find a birch tree," he began.

"Why birch?" A child with owl ears interrupted.

Alva, serenely smiling at the interruption replied, "Birch bark is packed with a special resin many people refer to as 'birch tar'. The material is very flammable, and burns for a long time. Primitive man used it for a great deal of things, like treating leather. The scent is also very strong... "

The group listened intently, Alva's voice quietly resounding over the clearing.

"Heh," Ekri chuckled. "He's goin' into lecture mode."

"Mm." Lavi grunted back.

Ekri glanced at Lavi, before sighing. "You're still mad about that?"

"Mad about what?" Lavi replied sharply. "I'm not mad about anything."

"You're a shitty liar," Ekri replied. "Even worse than _me_ somehow. C'mon," he said, taking a seat in the dirt; patting the spot next to him. "Spill your guts."

Lavi sighed, before taking a seat next to him.

"Okay I'm not _mad_ ," Ekri gave him a deadpan stare. "...Okay, maybe I'm angry. But I'm not angry at _Skoto._ "

"Then what's pissin' you off so bad? It's not like you get mad about... _anything,_ really."

Lavi gripped his knees tightly, frustration working itself onto his face, his dark eyes scrunching in discomfort. "Our carelessness got someone killed, Ekri. Seeing that poor woman's blood on the tree, on the ground...that was _our_ fault, in a way."

Ekri did not speak, merely gestured for Lavi to continue.

"It almost feels like _we_ killed her," his hands moved from his knees to his arms as he curled into himself. "If we'd been awake, if we'd _been_ there. Then we could hav-"

"We would have died alongside her," Ekri interrupted.

"Mayb-"

"No _maybe._ We would have died, Lavi." Ekri sighed. "I hate to admit it, but if we were to challenge this creature as we are now, we would have died."

"We could have done _something."_ Lavi replied heatedly.

"Maybe," Ekri conceded. "Maybe we could have distracted it long enough for her to run. Then it would have killed us. Then it would have come and kill the rest of these people. The adults would die first, trying to keep the children safe. Then the child-"

"Stop," Lavi whispered angrily, turning away. "Not you too. I don't need you lecturing me like I'm some sort of child."

Ekri laid a firm hand on Lavi's shoulder, forcing his around to look at him; before snarling quietly. "Then stop _actin'_ like one. Yes, a woman named Amara died. It was very sad, and partly our faults." He poked a hard finger into Lavi's chest, "But you sittin' there dwelling on it will do nothin' for anyone."

Lavi's eyes scrunched angrily, as Ekri frowned deeply. Finally, Lavi looked away; the fire leaving his eyes.

"I _know_ that." he began, his voice cracking. "It's just...hard. To swallow all of this down, to bury it; like Khai taught us."

"I get it," Ekri began, the fire in his tone dying. "I really do, but we have to. For everyone here, we gotta be strong and lead em' forward. They're dead without us, so we're gonna save everyone we can."

Ekri removed himself from Lavi, taking up a seat next to him again. The tension in the air vanished gradually, and finally Lavi let out a breath.

"We….we're probably not going to save everyone" He asked, his tone forlorn.

"We already haven't," Ekri replied, "We'll lose more, too. Skoto didn't want to hurt you, earlier. But he's right. The chances of every single person here makin' it out of this alive are just too low. Think about it," he counted off his fingers. "None of these guys have aura, they haven't been trained like we have, most of them are just farmers or woodcutters. Khai did all the work when it came to killin' the grimm. If it were just a the normal grimm we're use too, they'd have a way better chance; but that thing?" He shuddered lightly, "It's on a whole different _level._ I mean, the freaking thing pulled a tree out of the goddamn _ground_. Then it broke through Khai's vines, after just a few seconds of being restrained. How many times did _we_ manage to break through his vines?"

"Not once..." Lavi muttered.

"Exactly, that's why we're hightailin' it to – do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

Ekri brought his finger to his lips in a shushing motion, before pointing towards a section of the forest. Lavi strained his ears for a moment, only hearing silence in return.

"Huh," Ekri muttered after a second. "Maybe it was just my imaginat-"

" _Help me..."_ A light voice called from the forest, resounding throughout the group clearly. Alva stopped his impromptu lecture, a makeshift torch in hand. Skoto had stood, his watchful eyes peering into the forest.

" _Help me...please..."_ The voice called, clearer this time. Hans gasped loudly, snapping towards the forest.

"Amara!" He yelled," My wife! She's alive!"

He took off in a run towards the forest, and after a moment, Lavi took after him; slipping through the underbrush alongside him.

"Wait!" Skoto cried at the disappearing forms. He cursed loudly, turning to Maddie.

"Wait here." He demanded. She nodded, worry etched onto her features. Skoto then turned towards Alva. "Stay here, watch over them."

Alva sputtered in indignation, "No! We should go togethe-"

"Please," Skoto interrupted, his voice softening. "Someone needs to watch over them."

Alva growled, before letting out a breath of vexation. "Fine - _Fine,_ but you better come back or so help me _goddess."_

"Thank you," Skoto breathed, before turning to Ekri; who nodded in agreement. The two then fled towards the brush where Lavi and Hans ran a moment ago.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Skoto and Ekri first saw the backs of Lavi and Hans, as they overlooked a node of trees. Just as quickly seeing them push their way through brush. Skoto and Ekri rushed to their location, a moment later – and Skoto saw why the two had hurried past the brush.

Just barely, Skoto saw the back of a head of hair propped up against a tree. Han's wife, Amara, no doubt. From this angle, he could not see her face, or even her body for that matter. All of that was obstructed by the tree.

Skoto could hear, however. The same light, airy voice of woman.

" _Help me...Please…."_

"Skoto!" Lavi cried happily as the two stepped from the bush, "We found her! She's right here!"

"Lavi!" Skoto yelled, "Wait for us!"

Hans ran towards the tree, Lavi following. As they turned the corner, Han's eyes widened.

"A..mara…?

Ekri saw it then, a blackness shifting against the shadows; high up the trunk of a great oak. Two red eyes snapped into life from the darkness, the tree groaning as it's limbs tensed.

"Look out!" Ekri cried, diving forward. He shoved the two out of the way at the beast shot by in a blur.

Lavi cried out as he hit the ground, Ekri slumping to the ground beside him. Han's body flopped to the side, impacting against the ground harshly. Lavi blinked his eyes blearily, clearing the stars from his vision; he glanced to his brother, finding him cradling the left side of his face with one hand.

Lavi gasped once his eyes met with Han's body.

Blood gushed freely onto the forest floor from the stump that was his neck; the cardinal substance viscous and thick. The sever was messy, chunks of skin and muscle left behind; as if his head had been torn from his body.

Lavi heard the heavy footfalls of the creature in front of him, and tore his gaze from the body to the creature in front of him. His eyes met with the glowing ruby of the creatures eyes, in one claw, the creature held Han's severed head; an expression of confusion still carved onto his face. In the other claw, the creature held Amara's body, which was limp and lifeless; her chest cavity splayed open, the contents missing. The creature opened it's mouth, as if to roar, but no shriek sounded from it's gullet.

" _Help meee…..."_ The creature sang, it's voice distorted; as if it were speaking through water.

" _Help meeee...Hans..."_

" _I don't want to die here…please…."_

" _Someone…..Anyone..."_

" _Save me…."_

Lavi lay there, petrified by the creature's gaze. He couldn't help the whimper that escaped from his throat as the creature took a menacing step forward, it's tongue lashing at it's chops hungrily. Ekri grunted, pushing himself onto his knees; back facing the creature. Removing his hand away revealed the right side of his face had been split open by the creatures claw, a diagonal cut crossing over his closed eye. Skoto's eyes were wide with disbelief, as he stared at the creatures imposing form stand over his two brothers. Quickly, his hand reached for his weapon; his shaking hands fumbling clumsily as he reached for the shaft of the weapon strapped to his back. The creature took another step forward, it's foot splintering the earth below; mere inches from Lavi's prone form.

Then, a fiery arrow came from the right, piercing into the shoulder of the creature. It shrieked in agony, throwing the corpses down on the floor as fire spread across it's upper back; the flames licking hungrily at it's form. With another pained shriek, it began clawing at it's back, desperately attempting to put out the fire. Another arrow flew true, the projectile puncturing the creatures thigh. Another screech loosed from it's maw, and with a powerful push of it's legs, it skittered back into the forest; howls of pain resounding throughout forest.

Alva's form came just a moment after the creature, bow in hand, lit torch in the other. He slung his bow around his shoulder, helping Ekri to his feet; who clutched at his face while groaning in pain. Alva slung his arm around his shoulder, grunting in exertion.

"Avla..." Lavi began, his breathing rapid and light.

"Come," Alva replied hastily, "We don't know how long the fire will burn."

"How did you know the creature was weak to fire?" Lavi asked.

"I didn't," Alva replied. "I simply wanted to inflict the most damage possible. Hopefully, the creature doesn't start a forest fire."

Skoto took up residence alongside Alva, slinging Ekri's shoulder over his other shoulder. He turned towards Lavi, his eyes frantic.

"Guard our rear," he ordered. "We must get him to Maddie."

Lavi nodded wordlessly, unsheathing his sword and dagger; taking up position behind his three brothers as they trudged back the way they came. Lavi gagged as his mind finally made the connection that Hans had been decapitated. He suppressed his disgust, turning his eyes away from the bodies.

"Shouldn't we...bury them?" he whispered.

"Under normal circumstances, yes." Skoto replied, "However, there's no telling when the creature will shrug off the fire. We could not fight it as four, with three," he gestured to Ekri. "We would be slaughtered."

"Ekri," Alva said. "Why didn't you engage your aura?"

"I...did..." he coughed out, "The...thing...cut through it...like butter."

That caused the four to lapse into a terse silence. Of all four of them, Ekri had the most abundant supply of aura. For the creature to pierce through his defenses so easily….

"I can walk," Ekri grumbled a moment later. "It's my face that's busted, not my leg."

Alva and Skoto did not release him, merely walking on silently.

"Quit bein' stubborn." Ekri mumbled tiredly.

" _You_ quit being stubborn," Alva returned. "You just got your ugly mug split open. At least let us help you from walking into tree's and making it _worse."_

Ekri, despite the blood dripping from his face, managed to chuckle weakly.

"Chicks dig scars, right?"

"That's a myth and you know it," Alva replied, "Girls prefer an unblemished, smooth face; right Skoto?"

"You realize none of us have ever even _spoken_ to a girl our age, right?"

Both Alva and Skoto deadpanned at Skoto, who looked at the two confused.

"Dude," Ekri muttered after a moment. "Buzzkill."

Skoto simply scoffed, before smiling lightly. "Someone has keep you two casanovas on some sort of leash."

"How…?" Lavi muttered from the back.

"How what?"

"How can you joke? How can you laugh and poke fun like _nothing_ just happened? Ekri might have just lost an eye. We watched that... _thing_ rip off Han's head like it was nothing. Or how about when it used Amara's voice? Are we just going to ignore the fact that a grimm just _spoke_ to us? Or that it ran from a little _fire?"_ Lavi took a shuddering breath,"Maybe we'll just ignore the fact that this is _all my fault?!"_

The boys had stopped walking. Lavi was faced away from them, his body shuddering with each breath. Skoto sighed, untangling himself from Ekri; gesturing for Alva to wait for a moment. He shuffled towards Lavi, grabbing him by the arm as he did so. Lavi did not resist as Skoto dragged him towards Ekri, his feet padding lifelessly against the floor. Despite the fact he hid his face from view, one could clearly make out the tears dripping down his face.

Skoto placed Lavi in the same position he had held Ekri in moments before; Lavi glancing up, confused, at Skoto.

"Carry him," he ordered. "If you feel so responsible, then you ought to be the one to bear him."

Lavi did not answer, and began to drag his feet along the floor in tune with Alva and Ekri. Tears continued to splash down his face, until he felt Ekri's arm tighten around him. Looking over, he saw his brothers good eye staring at him.

"I would do it again," Ekri whispered. "If you sent me back in time a hundred – no, a thousand times. I'd do it all the same. I only did what you'd have done for me. _If_ I lose the eye, I'll wear it like a badge – cause it means I saved my little brother."

"You weren't wrong to go after the voice like that," Alva stated next. "If I'd been in your position, I can't say I wouldn't have done the same. It honestly sounded like her – how could you have known the creature could mimic voices? To you, you thought there was a slim chance she was alive, so you did exactly what any huntsman would have done. There's no shame in that."

Lavi's tears had only begun to fall faster at that point, cascading down his cheeks as he held onto Ekri's much larger frame – Ekri carrying him more than Lavi was carrying him. Skoto's voice resounded, as he walked at the head of the group.

"I was wrong to call you a fool. Your desire to save people is one of your most admirable traits."

Skoto paused to collect his thoughts, his three brothers silent in awe.

"But, you have to temper that desire to rescue with rationality. If you're going to run off to save someone, you cannot go alone. Not with a villager without aura for that matter, either." Skoto glanced back at Ekri, his eyes soft. "Were it not for Ekri's intervention, you may have ended up the same as Hans. If that were to happen..." he turned away. "I won't even entertain the thought. Just please, no more heroics, we do this together."

"Okay..." Lavi sniffled quietly, wiping at his face with his free hand.

"Good," Skoto replied, a satisfied lilt in his voice.

"Oh," Ekri exclaimed in mock surprise. "Are you two done talking about your feelings? Don't mind me, I'm only in excruciating pain."

"Not enough pain to stop with the jibes, apparently." Alva grunted – the weight of his brother pressing down on him. "We're almost there," he said, pointing out their footsteps in the soft earth. "Just a little more, Ekri."

At last the boys broke though the brush, the small clearing lit by a modest campfire. The villagers all held torches, yet to be lit. Maddie was the first to greet them, stamping up to them, hostility in her voice.

"You _promised_ me you wouldn't run off again, when I heard the screeching I...what happened? Where's Hans?"

"Hans is dead," Skoto replied; the villagers reactions varying from shock to outright fear. "The creature...it mimicked Amara's voice. Lured us right to it. Ekri was wounded trying to save him."

Wordlessly, Ekri moved his bloodied hands from his face. The wound had begun to close, thanks to Ekri's substantial aura levels; but the laceration remained rather lurid. The creatures claws had caught his face on his left cheek, slicing diagonally towards his right eye, which appeared to be swollen shut. The slice continued up towards his forehead, ending as it wrapped around to his right temple.

"By the brother gods..." Maddie choked out after a moment. "Sit him down."

"How bad is it, 'doc?" Ekri chuckled, laying himself down on the ground. "Give it to me straight, are my roguish good-looks intact?"

Maddie, despite herself, smiled at the joke. "If anything, they'll only be enhanced." she replied, "Chicks dig scars, you know?"

"Ha!" Ekri exclaimed, smiling. "Knew it." He then grimaced, the motions of the smile stretching the wound on the bridge of his nose.

"What can we do?" Lavi asked.

"It needs to be cleaned before it gets infected. We need sterile, clean water. Then something to dress the wound."

"...Lamb's ear," Alva blurted. "I saw some lamb's ear a short ways away from here, we can use that to dress the wound. I can make something to bind the bandage with a bit of milkweed."

"That still leaves water," Maddie muttered.

"Downhill," Alva replied, "Is the most likely place you'll find water. Skoto, and Lavi can look for some there."

"You'll go alone?" Lavi asked to Alva.

"I've been in the forests as long as I can remember," he replied. "I'll be fine, it's better for you two to be together."

"We have nothing to hold the water -" Skoto began, until Alva handed him a small flask.

"Be careful, you three" Maddie warned the three. "Especially you two," she gestured to Skoto and Lavi. "None of us have been down there, so it's possible there's really unsteady footing going down."

Wordlessly nodding, the three took a torch, lit it; and separated into the forest once more.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Skoto and Lavi trekked silently downhill, the dim light of the torch guiding their unsteady footsteps. After about ten minutes, the incline leveled out, Skoto gesturing for Lavi to listen closely. After straining his ears for a moment, Lavi heard it, the gentle babbling of a brook.

As they approached the brook, Lavi's voice resounded through the clearing. "What do you think happened to the creature, Skoto?"

Skoto mulled over his words for a moment, before replying. "Well, considering that the southern forest is not on fire right now; the creature appears to have put itself out. Whether or not it continues to stalk us...I am not sure, it depends.

"On what?" Lavi asked.

"If the creature is old, it is wise enough to choose self-preservation over death. If the fire was enough to properly threaten it...we may have shaken it. If it was not...well, we'll be moving as soon as Ekri is taken care of. For now, we should focus on that."

Silently moving forward, Lavi and Skoto came upon the brook. It was a small thing, six feet in length perhaps, opaque and difficult to see in the dead of night. It flowed gently from the other side of the incline; a few bugs skittered across the surface of the water as the light from the flame encompassed them. Skoto took the flask from his hip, and submerged it deep within the brook.

With his mind absent, Skoto found his thoughts trailing towards the strange dream he'd had. For the longest time, he'd considered his dreams naught but that, dreams. It was a comfort for any child, to be told the fears they experience are not real. A comfort Skoto found himself savoring in himself, even at the age of sixteen. Yesterday had changed things, however. The alien experience of that dream standing out even among the most alien of his dreams. He did not want to dwell on it, but…

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you, Skoto." Lavi interrupted his thoughts.

"What is it?" Skoto replied.

"Back at the village," he began tentatively, "You fought in a way that was…really different. It was good," he quickly amended upon Skoto's curious gaze. "like _really_ good. It was like you were..."

"Dancing," Skoto answered for him. The response came from his lips unabated, Skoto bringing a hand to lips the moment the words left them.

"Exactly!" Lavi exclaimed in realization, "It was like you were dancing! _Gods_ that was bothering me," Lavi sighed in satisfaction, before continuing with confusion lacing his voice. "But how'd you learn to do that?"

"Ah," Skoto began, flustered. "It was...Khai taught me."

"Oh..." Lavi replied, his eyes downcast.

Skoto bit his tongue, "We will properly mourn him, as soon as we are able. I promise you that."

"I know….I just can't believe I..." he trailed off, as his eyes wandered to the other side of the stream.

"Skoto," Lavi began, a strange tune in his voice. "Didn't Maddie say…no one else has been down here?"

"She did," Skoto replied. "Why?"

Skoto stood up, the flask full. He clipped it to his belt, before turning to Lavi; whose hand was outstretched pointing to the opposite side of the brook.

Skoto's heart caught in his throat, for on the other side of the brook; were countless footprints leading away from the brook. Most prints were old, the mud around them caked and dry. Skoto stared at the footprints for a moment, his eyes darting back and forth – trying to discern how large a group would leave behind so many tracks.

"Another group of settlers?" Lavi hazarded nervously.

"Perhaps..." Skoto replied apprehensively. Another group of people wasn't _necessarily_ a bad thing. Maybe they really were just another group of settlers….but on the off-chance that they _weren't._

"We should get back." Skoto declared suddenly, turning towards the way they came. "Ekri is waiting."

"Right," Lavi replied, walking alongside him.

He was just being paranoid. Even if it _was_ bandits, what did they have worth stealing?

It was going to be _fine._

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 **Ah, not quite out of the woods yet, it seems.**

 **I'll be frank with you, reader, this chapter was a struggle for me. I felt it was lacking and shifting focus far too often. Your critiques here would be incredibly helpful.**

 **One thing I was quite satisfied with, however, was the character development. Hopefully I'm portraying it well enough to be clear.**

 **Well, that should about do it for this AN.**

 **Once again, thank you for taking the time to read, and review if you so choose.**


	7. A Shattered Moon

**Heya folks! Saint here. Sorry about the lateness of this update. Writers block reared it's ugly head again. Hopefully the additional length of the chapter makes up for it.**

 **I've got some stuff to talk about at the end of the chapter, so I'll see you there.**

* * *

It most certainly, was not fine.

For when Lavi and Skoto got close to the top of the ridge, a myriad of voices assaulted their ears.

"Get em' movin towards camp."

"Heh, chief is gonna be pleased. Plenty of young blood we can put to 'work'.

"Maddie...I'm scared."

"Hush child, everything is going to be fine."

Lavi bristled, moving rapidly towards the ridge-line; his footsteps remained light and fluid, even across the rocky terrain. Skoto followed after, albeit slower. Lavi reached the ridge first, his body flush with the ground while his head peaked above; he stifled a gasp and motioned to Skoto to come. Sprawled himself out in the incline, Skoto crawled towards the ridge slowly. Once he reached the peak, he stuck his head above and felt his heart drop at the scene.

The villagers were all bound in thick rope, some showing signs of a struggle. Even Alva and Ekri were bound in thick, heavy ropes, both of them still; seemingly unconscious.

Roughly fifty people surrounded them, all of them garbed in a varying levels of armor. Their faces were painted with a red paw-print, presumably of canine origin, on their left cheek. Many lay still on the floor, bruises and cuts lining their form.

"Man..." one huffed, "Those two brats were _tough._ "

Another, adjacent to Maddie, laughed, "Haha! Yeah they were, right up till I got my hands on this fine _doe_ right here." He roughly pulled on Maddie's hair, causing her to fall to her knees with a yelp. Skoto's clenched his jaw hard at the sight, while a soft growl escaped Lavi's throat. "Minute I got some steel 'gainst her pretty little throat they bout shit themselves!" he laughed, spittle flying from his mouth.

"Do what you want with me," Maddie ground out painfully, "But leave the children be."

"Oh don't you worry," the man mocked, "I'll be doin _whatever_ , I wants with ya." he ran a single finger down the side of her cheek, Maddie grimacing in response. "Later, though. For now," he beckoned to his people. "Lets get 'em back to camp!"

"Skoto..." Lavi rumbled.

"I _know..."_ he replied.

The bandits began to gather up their wounded, corralling the villagers towards the west.

" _Skoto...they're getting away."_

"What would you have me do?" Skoto whispered. "We are tired and hungry, and they have everyone as hostages...running in now would only get _us_ captured too."

Lavi groaned, pressing his forehead into the dirt as they villagers were dragged away. Two men hoisted Ekri's war hammer with them, while another grasped Alva's sword; whistling as he appraised the weapon.

"What are we going to do, then?" Lavi finally asked.

"We are going to follow them." Skoto replied, rising from the dirt. "We are getting them back, Lavi. That, I will promise you."

Lavi stood a moment later, following behind him. The two silently slid into the forestry the bandits had gone just a moment ago, trailing behind them slowly and purposefully. They followed well into the night, till Remnant's shattered moon was high in the sky.

Eventually, after hours of travel, they came upon a small encampment. Wooden spikes set side by side, acting as walls, with braziers lining the exterior; casting the encampment in a dim glow.

Skoto and Lavi watched as the group approached the gate, as the man pushing Maddie along raised his hand in greeting.

"Open up!" he shouted, "We got some new 'recruits'!"

It was then Skoto saw that along the wall were many guard posts, each accommodating a bandit with a lit torch lighting the post. Rattling chains resounded throughout the forest, as a makeshift gate was raised, allowing the captives and bandits into the encampment. The gate then lowered, closing off any entry. Shouting and cheering could be heard from within, though the guards maintained their position atop the towers.

In the underbrush, about twenty yards from wall of the encampment, were Skoto and Lavi. Dark bags hung from underneath their bloodshot eyes. Mud and dirt clung to their forms like another set of clothing. Despite all of this, however, their breathing remained level and calm.

"Skoto," Lavi whispered. "What's the plan?"

Skoto hummed in thought, before speaking aloud.

"The walls of their 'fort' are well guarded. There aren't any blind spots, and they've cleared the forestry close to the encampment; making it impossible to sneak up on them. Not that it would help us to be closer, scaling those walls would be difficult even if we could get close enough." he grunted in annoyance. "Our lack of ranged combat is steadily becoming apparent."

"I wish we could have afforded a gun-mode," Lavi complained. "Alva is our only ranged."

"We will make due," Skoto replied. "So then, we cannot scale the walls and we cannot get close."

Skoto brought a hand to his face, dragging his hand down his face. A yawn escaped his throat, spreading to Lavi a moment later.

"Uh...Skoto," Lavi murmured. "I don't think I've ever been this tired."

"I know, I know." Skoto babbled back. "J-Just give me a minute to think, I just need a minute."

We cannot scale the walls. We cannot approach the walls. We cannot get rid of the guards atop the walls. What to do, then?

Skoto groaned, a headache blossoming in between his eyes. If only he had gotten more rest. Skoto looked to Lavi, only to find his eyelids drooping; his hand on his cheek. Skoto rapped his hand against his cheek, his eyes springing to life.

"I-I'm awake." He whispered harshly, "I'm good. I'm here. What's the plan, boss?"

"Don't have one yet." Skoto rubbed his eyes, "What are they so fortified for, anyway?"

"Uh...definitely the grimm, bro. Maybe huntsmen every now and the-"

"The grimm." Skoto whispered in realization.

"The grimm?"

"Their fortifications are meant for the grimm. Let's put them to the test."

Lavi appeared hesitant, a grimace on his face. "Won't that put everyone else in danger?"

Skoto frowned, "You're right, bringing the grimm here would only endanger everyone's lives. We have to think of a different way."

The two remained silent, as more cheering and shouting sounded from the encampment. The longer the silence went on, the more pained Lavi looked. Even Skoto appeared to be getting frustrated, as he frequently went to rub the bridge of his nose.

Finally, Lavi groaned. "I can't think of anything. My head hurts."

"I...we could...ugh." Skoto took a fistful of hair into his hand, his knuckles turning white around his gray hair.

We cannot scale the walls. We cannot approach the walls. We cannot get rid of the guards atop the walls. What do I do, Khai?

An angry snarl answered him.

Skoto's head whirled around to the origin of the growl, his tired eyes training upon the form of a pack of Beowulf. Their hateful red eyes did not peer back at him, however; he and Lavi were well hidden in the underbrush, the dirt clinging to their forms making them even harder to spot. No, their eyes glared at the walls of the encampment, black ooze dripping from their mouths.

"Skoto….!" Lavi whispered frantically. "Our people inside, their negativity attracted them!"

Skoto was not given time to reply, as the Beowulf threw themselves from the shrubbery into the open. The men atop their posts shouted frantically, and after a moment a hail of gunfire assaulted the grimm. The bullets ripped through them violently, the bodies falling to the floor, the telltale disintegration already occurring, albeit slowly.

"Guns..." Lavi whispered, "They have guns."

"Stolen, I'm sure. We couldn't afford guns. Such things don't matter to thieves."

"Right, of course; but this makes them a bit more dangerous than the white fang members."

"Then...maybe we have no other choice." Skoto murmured.

Lavi bristled at that, before relaxing a moment later. A deep frown settled on his face. Before he sighed in resignation.

"Maybe you're right." He answered back.

The two were silent for a moment, the only sound being the occasional gunshot from the guard towers; coupled with a howl of pain from the grimm on the receiving end of the bullet.

"Hey Skoto," Lavi began. "Do you remember the day we went on that picnic?"

Skoto smiled.

"Ah, yes." he answered back. "I helped Maddie make cookies."

"Yeah, and Khai grilled hamburgers, it was the only time he ever cooked something edible," Lavi chuckled against the back of his hand. "Remember how he pushed Maddie into that stream? "

"Oh my _gods,"_ Skoto laughed,"She would've killed him, if she hadn't been laughing so hard."

"Yeah...I know we're orphans, and that means we don't have parents...but," Lavi swallowed, his eyes glistening. "That's not really true, is it? We had a mom and dad, didn't we?"

"Yeah..." Skoto murmured. "Yeah, we did."

"Khai...Khai was a great dad, wasn't he?"

Skoto swallowed thickly. Tears pricked the corners of his eyes.

"Yeah. He was."

"We didn't ever get to realize it. It all happened so fast, but he died back there, for us."

"Y-Yeah, he did." Skoto's word came out shakily, his eyes filled to the brim with unshed tears.

"A-And n-n-now, they've t-taken our brothers, they've taken mother." Lavi's speech began to babble at this point, Skoto turned towards his brother and saw thick, heavy tears rolling down his cheeks. His eyes were not filled with grief, however. They burned with rage. Rage, that Skoto felt welling up inside of him as well. Adrenaline filed his veins, washing away any sort of fatigue he felt moments before.

As they ground their teeth and burned with anger, grimm answered their call.

They came from the darkness of the forest, their forms slithering and twisting through the gloom like terrible spirits, their red eyes leaving streaks of crimson in the dark. Amongst the boarbatusks, the beowulf, and even the occasional nevermore lumbered an ursa major many heads taller than it's brethren. The beast pawed at the ground, chunking the earth as it did so. A hail of bullets assaulted it's hide, but the beasts thick hide and powerful armor made the bullets inert. The beast charged at the wooden wall, supported by a pair of ursa minor. Together, the three cracked the wooden pillars leading into the encampment.

Skoto gestured to the three, "We move after them. We'll retrieve our Alva and Ekri's weapons, then free them. Then we'll find Maddie."

Lavi nodded, his dagger and sword unsheathed.

"On three then," Skoto rose to a crouch, palming his glaive. "One...two..."

* * *

"Aaah!" a short, man with brown hair let out a satisfied sigh, reclining back into a messily constructed wooden chair. "Tonight was one helluva haul, Miguel." He picked at his teeth with a short, slender bone. The man, Miguel, towered over his friend; his head was bald and a thick beard dangled from his chin.

"Mmhm." he grunted.

"Ah don't be like that, Miguel!" he exclaimed. "I know you've had your eye on a few of the new-bloods." the man whispered conspiratorial, elbowing him from his reclined position. "Plus, you even got some new steel!" he pointed to a large, red war hammer strapped to his back. "And I got me a fancy mecha-shift blade." He pulled the blade from it's scabbard, eyeing the blade with a hungry look in his eye. "It's 'spose to become a bow, but I can't get the damn thing to switch," he pouted. The sheathed the sword back into it's scabbard, before sighing; reclining further back into his chair. He tipped back too far, however, and was sent sprawling to the floor as his chair slipped out from under him.

"Heh..." Miguel chuckled.

The man's head whirled around, staring at Miguel in shock.

"Did….Did you just laugh?" He asked, amazed.

Miguel nodded, confused.

"This is the _first_ time you've ever laughed in the five years I've known you." The man rushed from his prone position, slinging an arm around Miguel.

"Hey everybody!" he cried, the party silencing for a moment. "Miguel 'jus fuck-"

"We gotta problem!" a guard yelled down from the tower. "Shit ton of grimm! They're at the wall-Ahhhh!" He screamed, as a swarm of nevermore shrouded his form, causing him to fall from his tower.

"Oh my-!" the man screamed. "Miguel! Get read-"

The sound of splintering wood interrupted the man's speech. The party silenced completely, everyone's attention trained onto the wall from which the sound originated. The wooden pillars had cracked, and pulsed occasionally, something beating on it from the other side of the wall. The crowd watched, a terse silence filling the air as the pillars were bashed. With each strike, the pillars caved further and further inward.

Then the wood gave.

A sea of black surged through the hole in the wall, and at the head of the tide, reared up on it's hind legs, stood an ursa major. The creature's thick, burly hide dotted with the telltale signs of gunfire. It's bone plates were marred with many battle-scars, the most prominent being a missing ear. The creature let out a terrible bellow, the low rumbling noise echoing throughout the forest. Then, slowly, a mountain of a man strode forward. Atop his head was a crudely stitched leather helmet; in the shape of a beowulf skull. The bandits smiled at his presence, drawing their various weapons; staring at his broad and powerful shoulders. Strapped to his back, was a large axe, many sizes greater than he was. With both hands, he hefted it from his back, resting the head on his shoulder casually. No words came from his lips, as he challenged the horde.

"That's right! With chief here, we'll never lose! He's killed shits three times as big as you!" He spat at the grimm.

More curses flew from the bandits, as the grimm steadily approached. The bandits became so distracted, they did not notice two forms dart in from the hole in their perimeter. The two boys quickly hid behind a few wooden barrels. Skoto's head peaked above, one hand upon a barrel, while he scanned through the crowd.

"There." he muttered as his eyes found his brothers weapons. "See there?" he gestured to Lavi, who rose a moment later. "Those two, near the back."

"I see them." Lavi responded. "How are we doing this?"

"They are already out of sight," Skoto began. "Incapacitate them silently, then grab the weapons." He removed his hand from the barrel, his hand coming away red. Casting his eyes to the top of the barrel, Skoto saw a red pigment staining the top of the barrel.

"Ah," he muttered. "The mark on their faces. They must use this dye." His face lit up, before he turned to Lavi. "Here, I have an idea. Come here."

Lavi shuffled closer, till he was shoulder to shoulder with Skoto. Skoto covered his fingers in the pigment, before bringing his fingers to Lavi's cheek. He re-applied the dye to his fingers a few times, before sitting back to admire his work. A rudimentary paw-print was colored onto Lavi's face, not unfamiliar to the mark the bandits bore. Taking a few minutes, Lavi applied the mark to Skoto as well.

"There," Skoto said. "They do not know our faces. So long as they do not look closely, we should be able to blend in."

"Okay," Lavi took a deep, stilling breath, then his eyes turned towards the two men. "I'll take the big one."

Skoto glanced down at him, confusion evident on his face; before he seemed to remember something.

"Okay, then I've got the small one. This way, and remember to act naturally."

The two boys stood from the barrels, slinking towards the back of the group.

As they got closer, one could make out the two men talking.

"Augh! Miguel! I hate being in the back line! We should be up there, with chief!"

"Mhm-hrk!"

Lavi, upon reaching the taller man, sprung up; landing on the mans shoulders. Then, using his legs, wrapped around his throat in a vice. The man reached up, grabbing at Lavi's legs, but was unsuccessful in pulling him off.

"Miguel?" he began, "What was th-ack!"

Skoto came a moment later, wrapping the shorter man in a headlock. He struggled and clawed at Skoto's face, but was ultimately unsuccessful in his attempts to get free. Miguel, in an attempt to get free from Lavi's hold, threw himself onto the ground. Lavi impacted the ground roughly, grunting in pain as his head rocked against the dirt. His hold remained firm however, even as the man beat on his legs; the blows glancing off of Lavi's aura. His face began to turn red, the veins on his face bloating as he struggled feebly. Skoto swept the other man's legs out from underneath him, putting himself in a crouch with his arms around his throat. Choking noises escaped his throat, and Skoto stiffened; clamping his hands down around his throat. For a moment, it seemed as though the people in front had heard the noise, but a swell of grimm brought their attention back to the breach.

"We'll be taking these back," Skoto murmured to the choking man. "Thank you for holding them for us."

As their shuffling ceased, Lavi kicked the man's larger body away, letting out a harsh breath.

"I'll get Pendulum, you get Wasp." Skoto shuffled over to the larger man's body, and with both hands lifted the hammer, grunting as he did so.

Lavi sheathed his own sword, before lifted Wasp with one hand, sheathing his sword whilst palming Wasp. The two's eyes met, and they nodded.

"Hey! What happened to those two!"

From behind the two, a few stragglers at the edge of the group had taken notice of the struggle.

"Oh crap." Lavi muttered.

"Run!" Skoto called to his brother, the two taking off towards the other edge of camp.

"Hey! Wait!" A few attempted to pursue, but were drawn back towards the breach by a dwindling swell of grimm. Skoto and Lavi ran, the encampment was mostly empty; as most of the bandits were at the other end, trying to keep the grimm from swarming through.

Skoto's eyes caught two shadows in a tent, seemingly sat at the middle of the tent.

"There," Skoto muttered, pointing towards the tent.

The two made their way to the front of the tent, and moving the flap revealed Alva and Ekri, bound to a large wooden stake. A piece of cloth was stuck in their mouth, and tied around their head; muffled words desperately trying to escape their lips. They struggled viciously, with little success. As the two made their way inside, Alva and Ekri's gaze found their brothers.

"Cavalry's here," Lavi grinned, making his way to the other two; who only struggled even more furiously. Their muffled noises growing more and more frantic.

"Okay okay sheesh," Lavi muttered, drawing his knife. With one hand, he removed the cloth from Ekri's mouth.

"That creep has Maddie!" Ekri cried.

Skoto's eyes widened almost impossibly large, before drawing his knife; quickly cutting through his brothers bindings. Ekri and Alva stood quickly, arming themselves with their lost weaponry. They quickly busted through the tent flap, running down a path guided by Ekri and Alva. Alva pointed to a fairly large tent, "There! That's where we saw him take her!"

Ekri practically tore the flap of the tent off when he reached it.

The four boys peered into the darkness, their eyes adjusting to the dark slowly. After a few moments, the boys made out two forms. One was Maddie, scarcely covered by a blanket. Her eyes were closed, and her chest rose steadily in her sleep. A large welt had formed on her forehead. The second form was a man, one Skoto recognized as the man who dragged Maddie away. As the boys walked in, he was pulling up his trousers. The man turned towards them, his face was rough and grizzled; sporting a newly formed bruise across his cheek.

"Huh? Oh, you must be here for your turn right?" He chuckled, pointing a thumb back towards Maddie's resting form. "She was a fighter that one, but I slapped her around some. She'll be real quiet for you."

Something inside of them broke.

A spray of blood splattered against the cloth of the tent, and onto Maddie's sleeping form.

* * *

With a mighty roar, the chieftain brought his axe on the downed ursa major. Multiple lacerations littered his form, blood dripping down his forearms and face. His axe tore through the creatures neck like wet paper, the creature letting out a low moan of pain as it died. The chieftain slumped to one knee a moment later, using the pole of his axe to hold his body upright. Countless corpses, both grimm and bandit, littered the clearing. Approximately half of the bandits remained, with the living sporting numerous wounds.

"W-We…..we did it…." one huffed, his breath coming out in harsh, short pants.

"How many….did we lose?" The chieftain panted, nursing his right arm.

"About...half?" One muttered, "It's hard to tell….too much blood."

"How's our...ammo looking?"

"Used it all taking out the birds," one griped, "Damn things were relentless."

Any reply the chieftain had died on his lips, as a body flew through the air from the other side of camp, unceremoniously crashing into barrels with a cry of pain. The man had his trousers on, but was shirtless, fragments of barrels chipping into his form.

"What the hell?" The chieftain muttered, "Didn't think...we let any grimm past."

A few men and women removed the debris from his body, hoisting him to his feet once the broken barrels were clear. Blood dripped down his form, most of it originating from a large slash wound, starting at the shoulder and ending at his pelvis. The gash was deep, and the chieftain knew at once the man would not survive.

"What did this to you?"

The man lifted his head, his eyes wide and full of fright. With one shaky hand, he lifted a hand; pointing towards the setting moon. The chieftain turned, and his breath caught in his throat.

Four figures stood at the edge of the tents, the light from the moon silhouetting their forms. After a terse silence, the figures began to walk forward. Allowing the bandits to observe them in greater detail

Thick markings trailed along their arms and legs, wrapping around to their tricep and calf as the markings traveled further up his body. They snaked along their collarbones, the two lines becoming four as they converged on the neck. They split once again, arcing along the side of their faces till they converged at forehead. Their eyes were vacant and dull, but were focused on the bandits in front of them.

"Hey..." One man muttered, "It's those kids from earlier!"

"Yeah!" Another replied. "Only this time, they got two more brats with 'em."

One cracked his knuckles,"They must not have learned their lesson the first time."

The boys remained silent.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?"

 _Shoot him._

 _I have no arrows._

 _Thou hast no need for those frail darts._

Alva brought his bow to bear, pulling back on the string. The bandits laughed, as the boy had nocked no arrow in the draw.

"Haha! Look at that, little shits so scared he forgot how to use his bow!" He chortled loudly, picking up a sword from the ground. "Hey idiot!" he called, "You forgot the arro-"

A soft glow emanated from the marks along his arm, until a light in the shape of a ball formed at the notch of the bow. The light was amorphous at first, but was given form after a few moments. The light took the shape of a simple arrow, before seemingly solidifying with a flash.

"….Oh shi-"

Alva released the string, and the snap of the bowstring echoed in the silence of the clearing. The 'arrow' sailed through the air at blinding speeds, a trail of gleaming light left behind as it flew. The arrow founds it mark in the man's torso, but was unfettered as it pierced _through_ him, bursting against the wall a moment later. The man looked down in a daze, his eyes unfocused whilst the hole in his torso steamed; his body fell to the ground in a heap a moment later. Silence settled over the clearing, whilst the smoking corpse of the man sizzled.

Then like a dam, the bandits rushed towards the boy; loosing a war-cry from their lips as they charged.

"Wait!" The chieftain cried. "You fools! Fight as one!"

 _Burn them._

 _I have no fire._

 _Thou art never without fire._

Ekri planted his war hammer firmly into the ground. The marks along his throat and forehead illuminated violently, flashing brilliantly in the dark. His throat bulged, as if he were about to retch. Then, with a mighty bellow, a gout of flame loosed from his lips, extending in a cone in front of him. Fire hungrily lapped at the charging bandits, encasing their forms after but moments spent in the blaze. The victims screamed in pain, collapsing to the floor; desperately attempting to put the flames out. The inferno burned on, however, till the victims panicked struggles stilled, their screams silenced. The flame lessened till naught but a trail of smoke billowed from Ekri's lips. The markings began to lose their glow, as Ekri dropped to one knee; breathing heavily.

The few remaining bandits were effectively cowed, their legs shaking as they backed towards the breach. For some, their fear was so great they attempted to escape through the breach.

 _Give chase._

 _I am tired._

 _Thou wilst never tire._

Lavi darted forward, his movements sluggish. As he passed, a bandit clumsily attempted a swing of his axe. Lavi ducked under the swing, placing his hand on the man's arm. The man let out a wheezing cough, falling to his knees quickly; his breath coming out in quickly and shallow. Lavi's grip on the man's arm tightened, and one could see the marks on his arm swallowing what little moonlight illuminated their forms. The bandit slumped to the floor face-first, while Lavi stood up straight and tall. The bags under his eyes slowly disappeared, his shoulders standing more firmly. With newfound speed, Lavi tore into the fray; his blades but flashes of steel. His blades cleaved through muscle and sinew, flecks of blood coating his form. With a leap, landed on the back of a man who had turned to flee, sinking his weapons deep into his torso. Lavi rose his head, transitioning into a backwards flip as the chieftain's axe traveled in a downward arc, the missed swing cleaving deep into his own bandit's corpse. The chieftain's eyes were frantic, as he stared at the four boys.

"D-Demons!" he cried. "S-Stay back!"

A handful of bandits remained, surrounding their frightened leader. Skoto strode forward calmly, his glaive transitioning to the wicked scythe form mid-stride.

 _Guide them to the end._

 _I do not know the way._

 _I will show you._

Skoto's eyes burned with a pale green, as the marks traveling his body emanated a soft glow. His sight changed, and he saw the world in a way that he found difficult to describe. Their forms faded away, bleeding into different colors, casting each person in a colorful glow. The bandits in front of him, were muted earth tones; the only exception being the chieftain, who was a muddy brown. Each color, also contained a vile purple color, which pulsed angrily at the center of the nebulous shapes. As he strode forward, he saw the strange shapes move towards him; each one carrying a muted gray in their hands as they charged. Their charge was not slow, but Skoto saw – no, this was not seeing, something new and _alien_ to any sensation he had ever experienced. Their movement tingled along his arms and legs, swelling in his chest and stomach, brushing along his eyes and ear; each so clear and vivid it was if he could feel – yes, _feel_ their movements. The colors, began to lean and lurch towards him, as if they were dancing.

Skoto could do naught but dance along.

Skoto weaved through the colors as they came at him, his body twisting elegantly as the earth tones careened around him. His body instinctively bringing his scythe down upon the colors as he danced. When his scythe collided with the colors, it was as if he'd torn open a water balloon; and the colors drained, leaving behind empty clouds of stillness.

Once all of the earth tones had been drained, Skoto set his eyes upon the brown with a sliver of purple within it. For some reason he couldn't explain, the pulsing purple left a terrible taste in his mouth; akin to a caustic, rotted fruit.

" _Come then, vile thing."_ He whispered, his voice a cacophony of different, indistinguishable sounds. " _I will free you…._ _Free you_ _of that filth inside of you."_

The earthen tone spasmed violently, before it too lunged towards Skoto, bringing with it a muted gray in the shape of a large axe. The strike was not slow, none of them were; Skoto was simply so _aware_ of the impending blow that it was simple to twist out of the way. Skoto barely registered the weight of his pole-arm, as he swung it in a wide arc, the color draining from the earthen tone. Skoto watched, enraptured as the bronze pigment drained from the amorphous bead.

 _Beautiful, is it not?_

As quickly as the sight came, it faded; and Skoto's vision returned to normal. It was bright, at first; but as the light faded Skoto felt shock crawl up his veins like a terrible chill.

His hands, which were once a vivid and peaceful gray, were now coated in a viscous red. As his vision cleared further, Skoto felt bile squirm in his throat. Surrounding him, were countless lacerated corpses, their life-blood spilling from the body in thick spurts. His head whirled in around, his eyes and movements becoming more frantic. His eyes spun around the clearing, before settling on the corpse of the chieftain. He had been decapitated, an expression of shock and anguish carved onto his face. He sunk to his knees, into crimson-stained grass. Unbidden, tears began to fall from his face, as sobs racked his body. He sat there, even as villagers began to appear from the other end of the camp. Even as their whispers of fear and wonder brushed against his ears.

Eventually, Skoto rose from his knees. Wiping his face with the back of his sleeve, Skoto turned towards his brothers. They laid about ten yards from him, their eyes closed with chests rising steadily and peacefully. Skoto stumbled over to their forms, and promptly collapsed alongside them, falling into a dreamless slumber.

* * *

When Maddie awoke, she felt a terrible throbbing in her head, and a hand gripping her shoulder. She sat up, violently, lashing out at some unseen force atop her with a panicked yell. A woman's soothing voice filled her ear, one she did not recognize. She opened her eyes, and while it was bright for a moment, she awoke with an old woman looming over her. She was a faunus, with horns of a sheep sitting atop her graying hair. Her face was slender, with light blue eyes.

"It's okay...hush…. you are safe. We are free."

"The children," Maddie whimpered after a moment. "Are the children safe?"

"Yes, they are all unharmed. All of our people are….unharmed."

"What happened?" Maddie groaned, clutching at her head.

The woman grimaced, "I'm not certain, all of us were kept at the opposite end of the camp. By the time one of the children managed to wiggle out of his bindings, it was already over."

Maddie sat up, slowly, aided by the woman. She idly took note of the fact she was still in a tent – different from the one she was in _last night,_ at the very least. She kept the blanket around her lower body, grimly noting the soreness she felt prickling at her thighs and pelvis. She roughly shook her head in an attempt to force the thoughts away. The woman hissed through her teeth; grasping at Maddie's head gently yet firmly.

"Easy girl, that filth may have given you a concussion."

Maddie's eye widened, turning to stare deeply into the woman's sorrowful blue eyes.

"Yes...I know what happened to you."

"...How?" Maddie finally whispered.

"A blind man could have pieced it together..." She hesitated, placing her hands in her lap as she sat beside her. "But let's just say I've experience in the matter."

"You…?"

"Yes, I was. The circumstances were different, but I was in your shoes, a very long time ago."

"Then," Maddie swallowed dryly, her voice catching. "W-What do I do?"

"You talk to a professional," the woman replied. "Someone that is trained and licensed to help you through it. Make no mistake – I am more than willing to listen, but that's it. I can't help you like a qualified person can."

"Do you see any licensed therapists around here?" Maddie replied dryly, a hollow look in her eyes.

"Talking smack is a good sign, I think." The old woman replied, "You're taking this rather well."

"I want to cry." Maddie replied, "I want to cry and scream until my throat is sore; but what good would that do? What's done is done. I'll save my tears for when they matter."

"That's probably a detrimental coping mechanism," the woman remarked after a moment of silence. "But if that's what helps you move forward, it can't be that bad, right?"

Maddie did not reply, and began to rise from her bedded position with the old woman's aid. The woman appeared to have replaced her torn and soiled clothing with surprisingly clean; but unremarkable clothing. She rose completely, resting her weight on the surprising firm shoulder of the old woman.

"I'm Maddie, by the way."

"Ciara," the woman replied, her withered hand resting delicately on her shoulder. "Ciara Craith. But just call me gran, everyone does."

"Oh..." Maddie muttered, embarrassed. "Satet. I'm Maddie Satet."

"It's quite alright, I imagine you're not quite used to using last names."

"Yes," Maddie replied. "It supposed to help the boys and gi-" Her words cut off as a look of realization spread across her face.

"The boys!" She gasped. Her eyes frantically met with the Ciara's surprised eyes, and she gripped her shoulder tighter. "Have you seen the four that were leading us? They have white, red, black and gra-"

"Calm down!" Ciara gasped, pain in her voice. Maddie slackened her grip on her shoulder, her eyes filled with remorse.

"I'm sorry," She whispered.

"That's the grip of a mother," Ciara declared after a moment.

"I'm not thei..." She sighed, almost happily. "Have you seen them?"

"Yes. They're here, at the other side of camp.

"Can you take me to them?" Maddie pleaded.

A look of hesitation appeared on Ciara's face, words struggling to spill from her mouth.

"I can...but whatever happened last night..." The woman exhaled. "Well, the reason we're not still bound isn't because those bastards had a change of heart." Her blue eyes met with Maddie's brown, and at once she understood the meaning.

"They're…?"

"Dead, yes."

Her boys had…

"Please take me to them." Maddie begged.

"Okay," Ciara relented. "But mind the smell."

Maddie leaned on Ciara, and the two made their way to the flap of the tent. They walked down a makeshift path, the sun hanging high overhead. The further they walked along the path, the more evident a foul scent became to Maddie's sensitive nose. Repressing a gag at the pungent and rotten scent, Maddie pressed on. After what felt like ages, the two finally neared the other end of camp.

Maddie successfully held the bile in, but only just. The corpses had quickly began to rot under the morning sun, the acrid smell was suffocating and overwhelming. A few bodies were blackened, curled up in a fetal position. Repressing her disgust, she turned to Ciara.

"Where are they?"

"Here," She motioned to a tent adjacent to the clearing. Quickly shuffling their way towards the tent, Maddie clambered inside quickly.

The four boys were laid out on four separate sleeping pads that were carefully placed side by side. Skoto's blanket was spread out across all four of their bodies, forcing them to huddle closer together to fit underneath.

Maddie felt her eyes glisten with unshed tears, and brought a single hand up to wipe away the liquid. Relinquishing her hold on Ciara, Maddie shuffled over to the sleeping boys. She sat down next to them, gently running her hands through their hair.

"I'll leave you be," Ciara stated, making for the exit. "We'll move when the boys have awakened?" She asked.

Maddie simply nodded, not trusting her voice to relay the words properly.

Her boys…

Maddie noticed flakes of dried blood some of their exposed skin, and gently ran her hands along the skin till the flakes had been rubbed off. Her eyes spied the black marks that ran along their arm.

"What is this?" She asked quietly, "Your semblances? Of course you'd all unlock them at the same time."

Her hands traced the marks, till they ended up at their foreheads.

"You..." She started, choking on her own words. "You all did well. You defended us, no matter what anyone says. You did what you had too, I'm sure of it." She laid a tender kiss on each of their foreheads, "And I am so incredibly proud of you. Of each of you."

"We didn't do what was right." Skoto answered, his eyes still closed. Maddie flinched at the sound of his voice, not expecting him to be awake.

"We killed them in cold blood. Some of them tried to run, but we killed them anyway. I'm not good. We weren't _defending_ anything."

"I burned them." Came Ekri's shuddering whimpers. "They won't stop screaming. Even when I sleep. That wasn't right."

"I k-killed them," Lavi whimpered. "I didn't want to kill them...but I was j-just so _angry._ I couldn't stop myself..." He broke off into a fit of sobs, ducking under the blanket.

Alva muttered under his breath. "The a-arrows flew through them like they w-were _nothing._ They didn't even bleed. There were just... _holes._ It wasn't right, Maddie. It didn't feel right at all."

Maddie caressed her boy's heads, softly brushing away their tears. "Maybe you're right," she began. "Maybe what you did was wrong. Some of those people probably didn't deserve what happened to them." She brushed hair off of his face, and she saw his eyes were dark and harrowed. "I've never taken a life, so I can't claim to know a single thing about what you're going through. But I know that you did it to protect all of us. Sometimes, doing the right thing will make you feel wrong." She felt her own tears falling down her face. "I'm sorry..." She sobbed, "I don't know what to tell you - how to _help_ you-!"

She was cut off by four warm bodies colliding with her. She stiffened for a moment, her instincts betraying her; before burying the feeling within her and stretching her arms as wide as possible, desperately drawing them in closer to her.

"Hush now..." She bawled. "I-It's all right now."

"I-I wasn't strong enough," Ekri whimpered. "If I had b-been paying better a-attention, they n-never would have caught us off guard, a-and y-you wouldn't have bee-" Ekri was cut off his voice failing him.

"Don't you dare blame yourself." She whispered. "That wasn't your fault." She brushed the hair from his forehead, staring down at his wounded face. "We didn't ever get to treat this properly, did we?" Maddie whispered, tracing her hands along the healed scars on his face. His eye was intact, but the wounds had left a considerable amount of scarring on his face. "I'm sorry, Ekri."

"It's okay," He whispered. "I've already got plenty of scars. One more doesn't bother me." A large yawn escaped from his throat, his eyes drooping.

"Don't go to sleep yet," Lavi whispered. "We still...have to get to the river."

Maddie began to hum a gentle, soft melody. It's tone was light and rich, and fell upon the boy's ears; their bodies relaxing as she continued her gentle humming. Before they knew it, Ekri, Lavi and Alva had all fallen asleep. Skoto remained awake, his eyes struggling to stay open.

"You can rest for a while, Skoto." Maddie reassured him.

"I'll rest...when we're safe." he replied.

"I see," she responded. "Then I'll stay awake, and wake you up at the first sign of danger. Okay?"

"...Promise?"

"I promise."

Skoto curled up beside her, resting his head on her lap. He gently drifted off into sleep once more.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Are we there yet?" Ekri asked sullenly.

"Close," Alva muttered, his frame drooping. "Can't you feel the humidity in the air?"

"I don't have nerd senses," Ekri replied, his voice lacking energy. Maddie was slung across his back, her head resting against the crook of his neck as she slept. "Let's just cross the stupid thing. I'm sick of this shitty forest."

"Language," Lavi stated blandly.

Ekri simply huffed, his eyes vacantly staring forward.

A lengthy silence fell over the group after that. The boys lead at the front of the group, with the villagers following a considerable distance behind. No sounds emanated from the forest, even as the sun beat down on them from high above. A loud snarling caused all but the boy's at the front of the group to flinch in fear. A large ursa lumbered from the depths of the forest, growling at the boys at the front. The creature appeared to be alone, as no other grimm accompanied it.

Ekri merely groaned in annoyance, "Really? More of you?"

"You took care of the last one," Skoto stated. "I will handle this one."

Skoto drew his blade, and in one quick motion, ducked under the creatures tremendous paw; before removing the creatures head from it's body. As it's head rolled away, Skoto could be seen shivering lightly; before strapping his weapon to his back as it folded into it's compact form.

The boys casually walked past the corpse casually, even as the creature slumped to the dirt. As they walked on, a sound started to resound throughout the forest. A gentle gurgling began to resound through the brush.

"Hear that?" Alva stated suddenly. "It's water."

The boys quickened their pace, and after a moment the broke the treeline, revealing an immense river. The water churned and sparkled in the mid-day sun, the natural incline of the land dragging the water out towards the sea. A fresh scent hung in the air, and the boys could not help but inhale the intoxicating scent. A large rope bridge, spanning the entire length of the river, swayed gently as the water churned.

"So this is it, huh?" Lavi muttered in awe.

"It's….beautiful." Alva declared after a concise silence.

For a moment, the boys and villagers did naught but stare at the river. Then, the villagers began to cheer, the children joining a moment later. Happy tears sprung from many of their eyes, some taking a moment to embrace the other.

The boys couldn't find it within themselves to do the same.

"You four don't seem all that happy," A woman's voice called out. The boys turned, and saw a woman with light blue eyes, gray hair, and the horns of a sheep walking towards them.

"The blood on my hands is spoiling my mood," Skoto replied, a wry tone in his voice.

"Yep," The woman mock-sighed. "You're definitely her kids."

"What?"

"Oh, don't mind me." She whispered conspiratorially. "Just talking to myself."

"Right…." Ekri muttered.

"That was quite the mess you boys left back there," She stated, conversationally. "You didn't look like you were capable of that, till you were covered in blood of course."

A anxious silence set over the boys for a moment.

"Listen... uh..."

"Ciara," She answered pleasantly. "Ciara Craith. But just call me gran, everyone does."

"Right...okay 'gran'." Ekri started. "It's been a long couple days, and of all the things I _don't_ wanna talk about that happened; _that_ is real close to the top of the list."

"Fair enough," Ciara mused. "But perhaps you _should_ talk about it at some point." She poked a finger into his chest, "Not talking about it at all is just as bad, if not worse, than being forced to talk about it, shrimp."

"Shrimp...?" Ekri muttered, looking down on the woman.

"Ah, but what do I know?" She shrugged. "I'm just some old lady. Definitely don't have loads of _world experience_ or anything like that, right?" She elbowed his side mockingly, before making her way towards the bridge, ignoring the celebrating villagers.

"Huh..." Lavi muttered. "She was...nice?"

"Yeah," Ekri stated, drawing out the word awkwardly. "Nice. She was nice."

"Are you whippersnappers coming, or what?!" She called from the foot of the bridge.

The group, paused, before they began to make their way across, and each of the boys held their breath as the rickety platform creaked under the weight. They looked to the forest, an apprehensive look on their faces. When the final villager crossed, they slowly began to release their held breath, glancing at each other at the end of the exhale.

"Glad to know I wasn't the only one expecting some big bastard to pop out of the water," Ekri chuckled grimly.

"Our luck the past few days would have certainly allowed for it."

"I'd prefer you didn't jinx it," Skoto said, making for the bridge. "C'mon, lets go get ahold of this 'Ozpin'.

* * *

"Glynda, have you found the time to look over the files of the incoming students?"

"I have," she replied, placing a large stack of vanilla folders on his desk. "They are a promising bunch."

"So they are," he replied, sipping his coffee whilst taking hold of a folder. "I apologize if the task was arduous, I realize that classes do not for another six months, but I wished to be prepared."

"It was no problem," Glynda replied. "It was for my benefit as well."

"So, what did you think of -"

A sudden buzzing coming from the inside of his drawer cut off his speech.

"Ah, excuse me." He reached for the drawer, pulling a scroll out.

"Strange, I do not recognize the number..." he muttered, before answering.

"-he hell do you work this thing?" A voice came through.

"Let me see it, you have no idea what you're doing."

"Wait, I think I've got it. Hello?"

"Hello." Ozpin answered pleasantly, "Who are you, and how did you get this number?"

"Ah," shuffling was heard, along with what sounded like muted yelling. "Khai said to contact a guy named...Ozpin, said we could find him at this number."

"Khai?" Ozpin remarked. "To receive two calls from him within the same year….what does he want this time?"

"He's…Khai is dead."

Silence settled as the sentence resounded through Ozpin's office.

"...Dead, you say? Are you certain of that?"

"Yes."

Ozpin sighed and looked very old and tired in that moment. He leaned forward; rubbing the bridge of his nose. "That is...a shame. A terrible shame. " Ozpin took a deep swig from his mug before continuing. "That still does not answer my question, however – who are you?"

"We're…We were under his care. Our village was overrun by grimm, and he stayed behind to prevent us from being pursued. He said you could help us. We have children and civilians, some in need of medical attention."

"I see," Ozpin answered. "In that case, stay where you are. I will dispatch bullheads to your location immediately."

"Ah," another voice answered. "Thank god, I am so ready to get out of this _goddamn_ forest."

"Langu-!"

Ozpin ended the call, before rising from his desk.

"Sir?" Glynda asked.

"If you wouldn't mind," Ozpin started, grasping his cane. "Would you ready some bullheads? It appears we've some _guests_ arriving in Vale."

* * *

 **Ah, we get ever closer to the start of the show. I'll admit, this will be my first time writing the canon characters. I hope I do not disappoint.**

 **Also, I hope you aren't shocked by the transition of more explicit events in the story. I decided on a mature rating from the beginning, with the plan of easing into it as the story progressed.**

 **Finally got to reveal the semblances, as well. I spent a great deal of time deciding what they should be, and I must say; I'm satisfied with the results. I feel like they fit the characters well.**

 **We also got introduced to another character, Ciara. It's possible she'll obtain a larger role in the story - but maybe not. I haven't decided yet, actually.**

 **I'd love to get some of you feedback on all of this, or any other questions or remarks you have to make; your reviews and reading are greatly appreciated**

 **But uh, that should about do it for this chapter.**

 **See you next time!**


	8. Welcome to Vale

**Hello again lovely readers, Saint here.**

 **We finally get some lengthy interaction between members of the cast and the boys this chapter, so I'm looking forward to your thoughts on that.**

 **Also, in terms of real-life stuff, Comic-Con is next week, and the voice actor for Yang - Barbara Dunkelmen, will be there. Since I have full event passes, I'm definitely stoked for that.**

 **From here on out we'll slowly be getting more interactions with the main cast, as we're approaching the Beacon Arc. I'm excited to finally get there, but I'm also somewhat fearful as I've never posted any character depictions before. I can only hope that I do the characters justice.**

 **I may have a bit more to say after, but for now thanks for reading.**

* * *

 _Two days after the boy's arrival in Vale._

The four brothers sat at a rustic stall, with Ozpin to the left of Skoto. Four large bowls of noodles had been placed in front of the boys, who were slurping down the noodles with gusto. Onlookers stared distastefully as their crude display – but the boys paid them no heed.

"Hmm...I see. That is quite the tale...Mr…?"

"Ah...Skoto. No surname." He gestured up from his bowl of noodles, pointing to each of his brothers. "This is Lavi, Ekri, And Alva – my brothers."

"Nith ta 'meethcha" Ekri muttered through a mouthful of noodles.

"Thank you for the food," Alva said, bowing his head slightly.

"And for not arresting us for taking that guys scroll..." Lavi murmured, an apologetic tone in his voice. "We swear we were just borrowing it!"

Ozpin raised a hand disarmingly. "Do not worry, the situation more than called for it. Your actions saved a great deal of lives."

"Yeah...well, not everyone..." Lavi mumbled lowly. "We lost Hans and Amara…"

The noodle stand was silent for a moment, before Ozpin's voice cut through the silence.

"If it is any consolation," he started. "Most cases involving the discovery of a new species of grimm have sixty-seven percent casualty percentages. The fact that you only lost two is nothing short of a miracle young man. Khai trained you well, it seems."

"That reminds me," Alva interjected. "We've never exactly heard your name before, in all the years we knew Khai. So forgive me if this sounds a bit rude...but who exactly are you?"

"Khai has never spoken of me?" Ozpin asked, a single eyebrow raised.

"Never using your name, at least. He talked about _plenty_ of people without ever telling us their names." Ekri sighed in annoyance, "Would never tell us when we asked, either."

"I see..." Ozpin said. "That does not surprise me, I'm afraid. We did not part in the most amicable of ways; it makes sense he would not speak of me."

"Then why send us to you?" Skoto asked. "Why not just tell us to go to Vale?"

"Why indeed?" Ozpin replied shrugging his shoulders. "I'm afraid the answer eludes me - well, perhaps..."

"What is it?" Ekri asked.

"Am I correct in saying you four aim to be huntsmen? You certainly look the part."

"Well...yeah." Lavi answered naturally. "It's what we've always wanted. Ever since we were kids, really."

"Then perhaps that is why. You four have heard of Beacon Academy, surely?"

"Khai mentioned it, I think." Alva replied. "He always called it…'a nest of pansies'."

"Ah," Ozpin sighed. "That certainly _sounds_ like something he would say."

"That doesn't answer our question, however." Skoto spoke. "Khai seemed so sure you would help us – he was willing to bet his life on it, even; I'd like to know why." Skoto's voice belied no small amount of suspicion, though his tone remained respectful.

"…Very well," Ozpin answered after a terse silence. "I am Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy. Khai was a member of my staff, a very long time ago."

"…Oh my god..." Alva stated after a moment, placing his face in his hands. "Somebody _please_ tell me I didn't just say Beacon was a nest of pansies right to the headmasters face."

"Nah, you totally did." Ekri pat his back mockingly. "I think you even looked him in the eye."

"He doesn't _look_ offended," Lavi added. "...You aren't offended, right?" His eyes were hopeful, his grin sheepish.

"No, I am not." A small grin worked itself onto his face. "At the time of his departure from our staff, he made his disapproval with the changing education methods _quite_ clear."

"Oh?" Alva began curiously. "What did he not like about it?"

"Hmm..." Ozpin rubbed his chin in thought. "Allow me to answer your question with another question – what training exercise did Khai use most frequently?"

"Oh, 'stick the pig' for sure." Lavi declared, his brothers nodding in agreement.

"What did it entail?"

"Well, one person was the 'pig' while the other three were the 'butchers'. The pig's goal was to survive for as long as possible – while the other three had to butcher the pig."

"I see..." Ozpin muttered. "And how long did this exercise last?"

"It ended in two ways, typically." Alva stated. "Khai would either tell us to stop so we could move on to something else – or the pig squealed."

"Squealed?"

"You got knocked unconscious, or you got too banged up and had to let your aura heal you up." Lavi explained naturally, a cheery lilt in his voice. "We cycled through each of us till we had all been the pig, and the-"

"All four of you became pigs, and had to fight Khai – acting as the butcher." Ozpin interjected in realization.

"Yeah..." Lavi began slowly. "How'd you know?"

"The practice is old, it's use dating back to the Great War – though it had a different name then. It was banned many years ago, due to the high casualty rates of the training."

"Oh..." Lavi muttered, taken aback.

"At Beacon," Ozpin continued. "Students fight in sanctioned battles, one on one, – or a team battle consisting of four verses four. The battle ends when a students aura reaches the red, which is closely monitored by a staff member. Rarely, a students injury is serious enough to warrant a visit to the nurses office – which is always fully-staffed and on standby in case of an injury. Most of the wounds they receive while training are superficial bruises with the occasional nick."

"That's..." Skoto began awkwardly. "...Different."

"Indeed, I have seen your arms. Underneath those...tattoos, you are covered in scars – meaning you fought well beyond when your aura was drained. That is not allowed at Beacon."

"But that doesn't make sense," Ekri responded. "The fight doesn't end when your aura runs out, it ends when you win."

"And therein lied our disagreement." Ozpin stated. "I believed that such harsh training regimens were unnecessary, and he believed them completely necessary _and_ justified. I already place students in enough danger as it is, I felt that it was reckless to endanger them when they were vulnerable. Also, such practices bred the wrong mindset for students, something I fear may have happened to you four."

"Why do you say that?" Alva asked.

A heavy look settled over Ozpin's eyes. "You say you killed those bandits," he began, clasping his hands together. "How do you feel about it?"

"Bad." Skoto answered immediately. "I feel bad that they deserved to be killed. I feel bad that we were the one's that had to kill them."

"You seem very sure of that," Ozpin replied just as quickly. "Very few people reach that conclusion as quickly as you."

"We know what our jobs would be as huntsmen," Skoto began. "'Slay grimm, and maintain peace throughout the world.' We know what the price of peace sometimes is - what is was that night."

"You make it sounds as though you are some sort of executioner."

"We were acting as peacekeepers, and they violently disturbed the peace. People that are willing to enslave others to their own cause forfeit their right to not be killed. I will not apologize for killing a band of rapists and slavers."

"And I would not ask you too," Ozpin replied neutrally. "You misunderstand, I do not mean to question the justification of their killing. I am simply concerned over your lack of reaction. Most children your age experience rather...adverse effects from their first act of bloodshed."

"I've wept all the tears I ever will for their ilk," Alva interjected. "Our caretaker - her name is Maddie, came up with a helpful analogy. She compared it to a doctor amputating a ruined limb of a wounded huntsmen—it's sad and painful, and it takes training and fortitude to do right, but is the morally right choice compared to lousy alternatives and therefore ought to be done."

"It wasn't easy." Lavi admitted. "The idea of it, thinking about it," Lavi nearly choked on his words. " _Doing_ it. I'm certain there will never be a day I don't think about it, their faces and how they looked when...when we killed them." Lavi's fist tightened in his lap. "But I won't let that overwhelm me. No matter how sad or guilty I feel."

Ozpin sighed heavily, and his behind his glasses his eyes seemed forlorn for a moment before they returned to a passive state. The four boys remained silent, their bowls emptied.

"Whatever helps you cope, I suppose." Ozpin gestured to their arms. "But enough about that...those marks on your bodies; your caretaker said they were your semblances?"

"Oh right..." Skoto stated, looking down at his forearms."Well, not really. The showed up when we unlocked them, and they glow when we use them, aside from that; the marks seem to be completely superficial."

"Ah, I see." Ozpin stated. "Then, what are your semblances?"

Skoto allowed a small grin to crawl onto his face, and took a small notebook out of his back-pocket.

"We're still figuring out exactly what each of us are capable of," Skoto stated. "But as of now it seems Alva can create arrows out of Aura." A small ball of light flickered into existence, originating from Alva's palm. After a moment the ball of light shifted, albeit slowly, into the form of an arrow. Alva allowed the arrow to exist for a moment, before clenching his fist; the arrow shattering into small fragments which quickly dissipated.

"Ekri is capable of breathing and producing fire, though it seems the former is the more 'natural' of the two; as Ekri finds it much easier to breath fire than produce it from his hands." Skoto gestured towards Ekri, who snorted, a small flicker of flame ejecting a few inches from his nose. "The intensity of the flames seems to directly corresponds with how much aura Ekri uses to fuel the flames; but we haven't been able to measure temperatures, or had the space to test what happens when Ekri uses a substantial portion of his aura."

"Lavi is able to 'steal' stamina from human opponents. In order to initiate the drain, Lavi must make contact with the opponent he is draining; as of now, he can only initiate the drain via hands. The drain is minimal, but over time the effects become more apparent. Also, the stolen stamina seems to transfer over to Lavi, who experienced something similar to a...sugar rush?" Lavi nodded, while Skoto whipped out a pencil; quickly scribbling into the notebook. "He is able to move faster, which inadvertently increases his striking power. It also appears as though he experiences greater levels of fatigue once the energy has left his system, whether or not he can diminish this with further use - we're not sure yet." Skoto's voice was frustrated at the end of his short speech.

"It's annoying, really." He muttered. "They're our semblances, but we know so little about them."

"And you?" Ozpin asked. "What is your semblance?"

"I'm...not entirely sure." Skoto chewed on the end of his pencil. "The only thing I'm sure of is that my vision changed completely."

"Oh?" Ozpin replied. "In what way?"

"Take yourself, for instance." Skoto answered. "If I were to activate my semblance right now, I wouldn't be able to make out the details of your form. Your hair, your eyes, your hands and fingers; all of it would be lost to me, replaced by a solid color. I've theorized that it is aura that I am seeing, but that proved to be false; for when Ekri used up all of his aura sustaining his semblance, the colors remained exactly as they were when his aura was full." Skoto rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. "When my vision is changed, it becomes much easier to fight; despite the fact that I can't actually _see_ a persons weapon."

"Which makes _no_ sense." Alva said. "No one should ever become a better fighter when blinded."

"I didn't say it makes sense," Skoto replied, almost petulantly. "The entire experience didn't make sense. Even when I'm actively using it, it's impossible for me to describe. I'm just trying to understand it through what I _do_ know."

"A semblance is undoubtedly one of the most powerful tools a huntsmen can boast," Ozpin interjected as the boys grew silent. "It is inherently unique to each individual, growing and changing alongside them." He gestured to the four boys. "Very rarely does anyone completely understand their semblance a mere two days after it has been unearthed; you've plenty of time to grasp the full scope of your abilities, the full scope of your potential. Which begs the question," Ozpin sipped from his mug."What do you plan to do now?"

The question rocked the boys into a shaky silence. They seemed confused for a moment, their eyes widening as they considered the depth of the question they'd been asked.

What _did_ they plan to do?

"I...We've always wanted to be huntsmen – that hasn't changed, I'm certain." Skoto answered finally, looking to his brothers.

"I can't really imagine a world where I'm _not_ killing grimm or saving people," Ekri answered. "So yeah, I'm with you." He balled his fist up, holding out towards Skoto; who responded in kind, their knuckles meeting as the two grinned.

"As am I," Alva brought his fist in, a light grin on his face. "Where else would I go if not with my brothers?"

"You guys..." Lavi muttered, wiping at his eyes. "It's pretty dusty out today, isn't it?" He leaned over, practically placing his body on the counter as his outstretched fist met with his brothers.

"This ramen is pretty spicy, too." Ekri replied. "It's makin' my frickin' eyes water…."

Ozpin, seemingly forgotten by the four boys, allowed a small grin to work itself onto his face as he watched four boys blink away tears whilst complaining about the dust, their fists connected. He allowed them a few moments, before clearing his throat.

"A noble goal indeed, to dedicate one's life to the protection of people." A strange look settled in the headmasters eye as he clasped his hands together by his fingertips.

"With that being said...I've a _proposition_ for you four..."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Are you certain that was wise, headmaster?" Glynda asked as Ozpin waved from the bullhead.

"What makes you think otherwise?" Ozpin responded, turning away from the window as the bullhead rose into the air; taking a seat on the metal benches attached to the wall of the vehicle.

"Aside from not being taught at a credible and recognized combat school?" Glynda crossed her arms. "Two of them will not meet the age requirement at the beginning of the school year."

"Age is a hallmark of wisdom, not skill." Ozpin answered back, "We have always allowed gifted students to expedite their education."

"You seem so assured of this idea they are 'gifted'."

"Very few huntsmen their age can claim to have survived against a new, unclassified species of grimm."

"Even they admitted it was a stroke of luck the creature was vulnerable to fire," Glynda retorted, before sighing. "I do not mean to diminish their achievements, but we haven't even seen a demonstration of their skill – something that is cultivated extensively at a combat school. A combat school that none of them have attended. They are also undoubtedly still psychologically affected - despite what they might say. It may be too early for them to consider returning to a combat-oriented lifestyle."

Ozpin merely hummed at that, allowing silence to take root for a moment.

"What have you heard of your predecessor, Khai?"

Glynda raised a single eyebrow. "Very little, in fact; I learned more about him today than I have in my entire career."

"Khai was one of Vale's finest." Ozpin began. "His semblance made him a terror in any sort of floral area, in addition to unnaturally expanding his lifespan. He had no notable weapons – only a simple hunting knife; yet he fought alongside Vale's 'Warrior King' in the final battle of the Great War. By then, he had quite the infamous reputation. His enemies thought him weaker in a desert – they were quickly proven wrong. Armed with but a knife he was rumored to have laid waste to entire battalions of men single-handily."

Glynda did not speak, and simply stared at Ozpin as he took a breath.

"Khai was Beacon's combat instructor a very long time ago," He said, lazily gesturing in her direction. "His instruction was supremely effective; producing some of the greatest combatants the world has ever seen. Until the council passed laws outlawing his teaching methods, of course."

"What?" Glynda interjected, confused. "If he was such a great teacher, why would the council act against him specifically?"

"His teaching, while undeniably effective, was birthed during the Great War, a subject of great negativity and brutality. I'm certain that the 'stick the pig' exercise is not the most barbarous thing they've been put through. Now imagine if your students were beaten black and bloody, the only excuse being, 'it'll make them better.'"

Glynda subconsciously clenched her fists while a sharp look entered her eye.

Ozpin smiled mirthlessly, "And now you understand the councils position – students came home from each semester covered in scars and injuries. Parents saw this and felt their children's lives were being needlessly endangered, and the council was forced to outlaw his teaching methods." He sighed. "Many discussions were held on the subject - none of them affable."

Ozpin grasped his cane, leaning it against his shoulder idly.

"When he left our school, he looked me in the eye and swore he would never teach another set of students." Ozpin paused, glancing in the direction of the rapidly receding figures of the four boys. "Except he did. Those boys changed his mind – something I didn't accomplish _once_ in the few short years I knew him." Ozpin's eyes met with Glynda's. "I want to know _why,_ Glynda. What is so special about those four that made the most stubborn man I've ever met go back on his word." Ozpin cleared his throat, taking a sip from his mug; sighing in satisfaction as the liquid drained down his throat. "As for the children returning to combat...I'm certain combat is the only 'normal' thing they've ever known. I'd wager it would be good for them."

"I...I see." Glynda finally answered after a moment. "I did not know this...Khai had such a reputation."

"Very few did, as was his desire, I believe." Ozpin sighed into his hands. "I must admit, I still find it hard to believe he was killed…" Ozpin sighed, and stood; walking over to the window of the bullhead as Beacon appeared over the horizon. "Despite all of our disagreements, I considered him a friend." Ozpin closed his eyes, a fond smile on his face.

" _The council is, once again, pressuring me to have you change your...'teaching' methods, Khai."_

" _Eh? Don't those whimps understand 'no pain no gain' yet?"_

"... _Some are even pushing to have me fire you."_

" _...It was the one with the double chin and the beer-belly, wasn't it?"_

" _It is unbecoming of you to speak about Councilmen Edgar in such a way...but yes."_

" _Pfft, I'll do you one better. I quit."_

" _Khai...you don't hav-"_

" _No...no, it's okay, actually. If they don't think they need an old war shit like me around well….I don't agree, but I wanna believe they're right. So I'll go. Go find a nice quiet little section of forest and fade away, just like I ought too. Besides, I always hated the city. It's real hard to find a nice tree to fall asleep under."_

"Rest in peace...old friend."

* * *

" _How would you like to come to my school?"_

"That….that just happened, didn't it?" Lavi muttered in awe.

"Yes..." Skoto murmured back. "Yes it did."

"...Is Maddie expecting us back tonight?"

"Nah..." Ekri answered. "I let her know not to wait up."

"She will anyway, you know."

"'Course I know, that's just Maddie."

The boys were sat on a large building, overlooking the city of Vale. The sun hung low in the sky as the rush of daytime began to wind down, Vale's nightlife sluggishly awakening in turn. Bright neon signs gleamed in the twilight, the likes of which the boy's have never seen before. They certainly didn't know what to expect when they arrived at Vale, but having lived on the frontier their entire lives – it was a jarring sight indeed.

"It's almost...alive, in a way." Alva muttered. "Different from the forest, of course. Everything is so...tall, and bright."

"Really hurt my 'frickin eyes at first," he blinked as his eyes met with a particularly bright spotlight. "Never-mind, still hurts."

"We'll have to get use to it," Skoto replied. "But I agree, it is _far_ too bright here."

The boys fell silent, allowing the sounds of night take over. Muted music with a heavy bass pulsed like a heartbeat, and Alva grimaced; the foreign sounds grating his ears.

"What do you think, Skoto?" Alva asked, shaking off his distaste of the music.

"Why are you asking me?" Skoto replied.

"That should be obvious," Lavi answered. "You're the leader."

Skoto raised an eyebrow. "I don't remember discussing that."

"That's 'cause we didn't," Ekri replied. "Don't need too, either. You've always _been_ the leader. No one ever had to say anything."

"You were the first one at the orphanage, we all came after. That makes you the oldest, which also makes you the leader." Lavi added, a chipper smile on his face.

"I'm going to pretend that logic makes sense for your sake."

"Don't act as if you don't deserve the title through merits, as well." Alva responded. "None of us have ever beaten you in a spar, and with you making the decisions we lasted the longest against Khai. You make us perform better when you're at the helm." Alva leaned in, mock whispering. "Plus, can you really imagine _Ekri_ leading us?"

The two paled, then shivered as if a cold breeze had crawled up their spine.

"Huh? What'd you guys say?" Ekri asked dangerously, a overly happy smile painted on his face. "It almost sounded like you were saying I'd be an awful leader, but you'd never say something so mean right to my face would you?"

Alva continued, as if he hadn't heard Ekri. "I know it might be asking a lot, but please spare us the tragedy that would inevitably befall us if Ekri were given any sort of authority."

The corner of Ekri's lip twitched, " _Oho,_ now you've hurt my feelings." He cracked his knuckles. "You know I have trouble expressing my emotions without using violence, bro."

"Really?" Alva shot back. "Huh...I always thought you were one to eat your feelings. I mean – just look at you." Alva reached up on his tip toes to try to place his hand above Ekri's head, failing. "What are you? Part giant? Just because you can't fit in the doorway of the gym doesn't excuse you from working out like the rest of us."

"I swear to gods, I will _literally_ bench you-!"

The two began to play-fight, with Lavi and Skoto watching with mirth-filled smiles.

"You've always known you were the leader." Lavi spoke, complete confidence in his voice.

Skoto merely hummed in response, sitting back on the edge of the building.

"It didn't feel right to say it outright, did it?"

"No." Skoto answered. "All of you could lead us just as effectively as I could."

"You see!" Lavi exclaimed. "That's it, right there; the reason why you should lead."

"Why is that?"

"You believe in us. Unconditionally, you trust that we can always do it; even when we don't believe it ourselves."

"You don't?"

Lavi smiled ruefully. "I believe I'll always try my best. I think those two will too, but none of us believe _all_ the time. Not like you do." Lavi brought up a single fist, bumping it lightly against Skoto's chin. "If it hadn't been for you, we'd never had made it out of that forest. We wouldn't have saved Alva, Ekri and Maddie. You've been leading us ever since we decided to be huntsmen, the only thing that's changing tonight is you've got the title, too."

Skoto was silent for a moment, his eyes peering towards the rising moon. Then, he brought his palm down on Lavi's head; ruffling his hair roughly.

"When did you get so wise, shrimp?"

"I take it all back." Lavi deadpanned, his face souring. "You know what? I'm glad you're taller than me, it gives me more of you to dislike."

"Nice one, you really got that in on _short_ notice."

"I'm going to hit you now."

"You're going to _try."_

Thus, the four engaged in a brotherly brawl under the rising moon of Vale. They fought well along into the night, bruises dotting their forms as the fight lingered on. Eventually, the four fell onto their backs, panting and gasping as the moon reached the apex of it's height. The four stared up into the moon with swollen eyes and busted lips, and only then did they speak again.

"Khai always did like nights like this," Ekri began, before continuing in an impression of Khai's voice. "'Finally, some damned peace and quiet. You brats sure are loud when you get clobbered.'" Ekri sniffled softly. "I wish he were here, so I could finally get him back for all those dick-punches."

"I think he liked hearing your voice go up an octave," Lavi answered, tears also pricking the corners of his eyes. "Something about the irony of the biggest guy having the highest voice, probably."

"What a dick..." Ekri sniveled.

"I'm going to miss our monthly outings to gather useful flora," Alva muttered softly, tears blurring his vision. "Even though he would 'accidentally' have me pick the poisonous variant."

"Oh right," Skoto chuckled. "Didn't you accidentally eat one, once? You had trouble crapping for...what was it, two weeks?"

"Three." Alva answered almost fondly. "He laughed the entire trip back."

"I remember when he caught me trying to sneak sweets before dinner time," Lavi admitted. "I wasn't tall enough to reach, so when he rounded the corner, he laughed at me. Then, he grabbed a handful of candy, ate all of it, then put the jar up on a higher shelf." A chorus of chuckles resounded at that, Lavi joining in a moment later.

They fell silent for a moment, staring up at the moon peacefully. The silence was broken by Skoto's voice.

"I'm going to miss his stories." Skoto covered his eyes with his forearm. "He never told the same one twice, and he was the best at telling them. Never missed a night, either; even on the days you could tell he just wanted to go to bed, he _always_ told us a story."

The damn burst, and tears began to freely fall from each of their cheeks. Here, on a rooftop in the city of Vale, the boy's finally mourned the loss of the only father they'd ever known. They did not sob, or heave, or wail into the night. They simply cried in silence, as the moonlight gently enveloped them in it's ivory embrace. Eventually, the tears dried, and all at once they began to sit up.

"...Should we host a funeral?" Lavi finally asked.

"...I don't think he would have wanted that," Skoto answered. "He always said he hated funerals. Too many people crying in once place."

"He'd tear us a new one if he saw that," Ekri stated. "'What're you blubbering for? I'll give you something to cry about.'"

"Come on," Skoto chuckled mirthlessly. "Let's get going before his ghost comes to whup us one last time."

The four casually hopped off the rooftop, landing on the empty sidewalk with a thud. They made their way through the empty streets silently, their forms illuminated under the shattered moon.

* * *

"This song and dance is getting old _really_ quick, boys." Maddie growled in frustration, dark circles under her eyes.

The boys froze in the doorway of the small apartment, guilt-ridden visages staring at Maddie; who was seated on a small futon, her form covered in Skoto's blanket.

She sighed, the anger draining from her face. "I swear..." she yawned deeply. "You four are going to be the death of me. Do you have _any_ idea what time it is?" She peered closer at their faces, her eyes squinting. In one swift motion, she put her glasses on, then gasped. "And what happened to your faces!?" She rose quickly, her bare feet padding against the floor. "You got in a fight? _Already?_ It's been two days, boys!"

"Hey c'mon," Lavi whined as Maddie inspected his injuries. "We just sparred with each other a little bit, that's all."

"Oh you are _so_ grounded," she muttered. "First you come and say not to wait up without so much as a _word_ as to why. Then, when you _do_ finally come home, you're black and blue with bruises – _are you limping?"_

"Maddie," Skoto began, a guilty tone lacing his voice. "We're sorry for worrying you."

"Yeah," Ekri continued. "We just...lost track of time, is all."

Maddie groaned, placing a hand against her head. "I'd be more mad at you, if I wasn't so exhausted." She returned to the futon, satisfied that their wounds were mostly superficial.

"So..." Maddie yawned again, as resting her chin on her palm. "What did _the famous_ Ozpin want to talk about?"

"He wanted to know everything about how we ended up at Vale." Skoto answered. "We told him everything, how the grimm attack started, the creature in the woods, even the bandit camp."

"Well, the police already know." Maddie concluded. "You certainly don't have any reason to hide it."

"That's what I thought, too." Skoto replied. "Ah, but that's not all..." he tapered off, hesitation filling his voice. Maddie looked on, confused, as a pensive look filled the other three's eyes.

"What is it?" She asked.

"He...he offered to enroll us at Beacon." Alva answered finally.

Maddie simply stared at the boys for a few moments, her face blank.

"...Maddie?"

All at once, she shrieked in joy; jumping to her feet. She crossed the small apartment in what was seemingly seconds, enveloping the boys in a group hug.

"That's amazing news!" She cheered. "Do you know how hard it is to get into Beacon?! I thought applications had already closed! Aren't you too young to go?!" Her words spilled out of her mouth uncontrollably, while the boys stared dumbfounded.

"You're...You're happy?" Ekri finally mumbled.

"Of _course_ I'm happy." Maddie responded. "How could I be anything _but happy?"_

"Well..." Lavi murmured. "We'd have to stay on campus, which means...you'd be here alone most of the time."

Maddie stared at the boys for a moment, an unreadable expression on her face. Then, she started laughing. A laughter so honest and pure the boys couldn't help but smile at the sound. It really had been too long since they had heard her laugh.

"What's so funny?" Alva chuckled.

"Of _course_ you'd be worried about that." She snorted, placing the back of her hand against her mouth. "You four are too sweet, but I'm fine, boys. You don't need to worry about me."

"B-But we want to help you -" Lavi started, before Maddie put a hand on his cheek.

"You can help me by doing what you want to do. I wouldn't feel good at all if you four were to hold back on account of me. Besides, if you wanted to become licensed hunters, that's where you'd have to go anyway; right?"

"Well yeah..." Skoto responded hesitantly.

"So go, and don't worry about me." She beamed at the four. "I've been talking to a therapist, and Ciara visits daily with the kids. I'm in goods hands, boys."

Maddie settled herself against the futon, pulling the blanket around her form more comfortably.

"…So I'll hear nothing about 'not going'," she yawned deeply. "You all want too – I can see it in your eyes."

"It would be _cool..."_ Ekri admitted, a small grin on his face. "I mean...I've only been here two days – but I've heard it's like an academy for _supermodels."_

"Oh shut up," Lavi laughed. "Your face looks like it lost a fight with a lawnmower."

Ekri mock-sighed, placing a hand on the scarring on his face. "Oh you poor, immature little boy – haven't you heard? _Mature_ women like _mature_ men; and nothing says mature like scars."

Lavi placed a hand on Skoto's shoulder, "The scarring ran... _deeper_ than we thought – his mind is lost to us." He placed his forearm against his eyes. "Don't worry Ekri, we'll remember you as you were" mock sobs escaped his throat."…. Even when you become a lonely _reptile guy."_

"I will hit you."

Maddie giggled lightly, her eyes drooping. She rest her head against the back of the futon, her eyes blearily looking towards the boys.

"...I love you boys." she murmured as her eyes finally drifted shut.

As the words fell from her lips, the boys stared in shock at her sleeping form. Wordlessly, they stared at her, staring at each other helplessly. Then, all at once, they smiled. Each of the four sat down next to her, all of them barely fitting on the futon. Skoto briefly touched his fingers to Maddie's, smiling lightly.

"We love you too, mom," He whispered. "Sweet dreams."

"...I guess we're going, then." Ekri murmured after a moment. "That's...pretty exciting, actually."

"I agree," Alva responded in a similar hushed voice. "I'll have to brush up on my mathematics."

Ekri stiffened.

"...You did realize school meant math...right?"

Ekri did not answer.

* * *

 _ **Math is the true enemy.**_

 **Ah, but in all seriousness, I hope the reasoning for their acceptance of killing was at, the very least, coherent. I can't say for certain what it's really like of course - I have no experience in the matter; all I have is what I** _think_ **it's like coupled with a few hours of research into the psychology behind it. I'm focused on it as a story-telling device, but I'd also like for it to be grounded and believable - hopefully you enjoyed.**

 **I also feel like I'm getting better at the interactions between the boys, hopefully that translates over to the other characters.**

 **I think that should do it for this chapter.**

 **As always, thank you for taking the time to read, and review if you choose.**


	9. Familiar Faces

_**Hello everyone! Saint here.**_

 ** _Terribly, terribly sorry for the wait. This chapter was crazy long, and I wanted to make sure it was the best it could be. Hopefully it will be worth the wait._**

 _ **I may start to do a exposition bit, explaining things about the world of Remnant for the purposes of this story - since it is somewhat AU by nature. I'm not one hundred percent sure yet, though.**_

 _ **Also, one last thing before I get to the story. I'm going to start posting story ideas on my profile, so if that interests you at all feel free to check that.**_

 _ **I may have a bit more to say at the end, but for now enjoy the chapter! Thanks for reading and or reviewing.**_

* * *

 _I dreamt of her again last night, the woman, and her family. I am not surprised, she is all I dream of, these days. The youngest just learned how to crawl, and does so with reckless abandon. She shouts her first word – cookie, as if it will cease to exist if she does not scream it aloud every hour. If I close my eyes, I can see her with almost perfect clarity; a small, feeble thing with black hair and eyes like the silvery moon. The tips of her bangs are red. Just like mine...hers...just like hers._

 _I have seen her fight now, as well. A small pack of beowulf surrounded their house when the child fell into a fit. She brandished a scythe, many times larger than herself, and laid waste to the pack with ease. That, was not what surprised me; any huntress worth her salt is capable of slaying a few beowulf – no…it was how she fought. Each movement, each swing of her scythe, it was the same as my own...or, is it I that copies her style? No...that cannot be, this woman, her children, her husband; they are naught but my imagination, surely? A delusion, conjured by my subconscious, nothing more._

 _...Right?_

* * *

Yang Xiao Long was having a terrible day.

Not only had Ember Cecilia been damaged in a bout against a few _ursa_ of all things, but her sister was too busy too fix it.

" _C'mon Ruby! Help a big sister out?"_

" _You know I'd love too! It's just...well...I've got a ton of homework from Signal to do. If you go to Vale, though, there's a smith there who's should know what he's doing..."_

Usually, Yang would fix her own weapon. Superficial damage to the slide and metal were simple, and easy to repair. However, it was the mechanisms inside that were damaged, Mechanisms that Ruby had a hand in creating; making it difficult for Yang to repair her beloved gauntlets herself. With Beacon's classes starting in just a few short weeks, Yang had no choice but to use her weekend to take an air bus to Vale to meet with the smith Ruby suggested.

"Man..." she huffed, placing a fist against her chin. "I wanted to go to that club, too..."

Her pocket burned, the contents within feeling impossibly heavy. Her hand reached down, but stopped short. With a frustrated sigh, she brought her hand back up to her chin, before staring out the window of the vessel.

"Oh well," she muttered. "There's always next weekend."

A female voice sounded from the speakers of the ship. "We've landed in Vale, passengers. Please disembark in an orderly fashion."

"Alright," Yang muttered to herself. "Time to meet this smith Ruby talked about."

* * *

"God dammit boy!"

Yang blinked in surprise as the door behind her shut with a click, the soft chime of the store bell being overshadowed by the hollering of the old man. An apron, which was covered in soot and grime, was tied around his round belly. A large unkempt beard dangled down from his face, which was rough and covered in wrinkles. His eyes were dark and his face was set into what Yang assumed was a permanent frown. A bald head reflected the lighting of the small, unassuming shop.

"How many times do I have to tell you?!" he continued, not noticing Yang's presence. "'You're hitting the metal too hard," He crossed his arms with a huff, his demeanor calming. "The hammer has weight for a reason, boy. You don't need to swing it like that over sized tenderizer of yours."

"Yesterday I was hitting it too soft!" A voice called back. "Today, I'm hitting it too hard, make up your mind old man!" The voice rounded the corner, and Yang eye's met with the owner of the voice.

He was tall, was her first thought. At least six and a half feet tall, maybe even taller. An apron, similar to the one own by the old man, was tied around his waist; though it only came down to his knees. His shoulders, not to be outdone by his height, were broad; stretching the fabric of his shirt. His hair, which was a dark red, spilled down the sides of his head; it's tips brushing along his shoulders. Thick, black tattoo lines traveled along his forearms, disappeared as they reached his sleeves, before reappearing on this throat – leading to his forehead, where the two lines connected. The right side of his face was marred, two thick scars trailing down from his brow, crossing over his eyes, before stopping at his chin. His eyes were red, the same as his hair; and were wide as they stared into hers.

 _Huntsmen for sure._

"W-Whoa..." Ekri muttered, jaw agape. An amused glint sparked in Yang's eye's at his awe-struck expression.

 _T-They get that big?_

"Careful now, big guy," she mocked. "You might start catching flies."

Ekri's jaw snapped close with a clack, his hand coming up to wipe at the corner of his mouth.

The man grunted, turning towards Yang.

"What are you gawking at, bo- oh." He glanced over at Ekri, a single eyebrow raised. "Don't go pitchin' a tent now. You got a shipment of metal round the back to deal with."

"What!" Ekri cried, "I-I'm not – I don't – ugh." He let out a calming breath of frustration - before turning around, making his way for the back room.

"Screw you old man!" He yelled, his body disappeared round the corner.

"You better not be sassin me, boy!" The old man called after him. He turned towards Yang, leaning on the counter. "Don't you mind him one bit, miss." his tone became softer. Though his beard covered his mouth entirely, Yang saw him smile through the coarse mane; the motion lifting his beard. "He's from the country, you see...probably never seen a girl half as pretty as you in his _whole_ life."

Normally when men of such an age complimented her, Yang couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with the praise; her typical response usually her fists or feet as the man was also, unfortunately, also a lecher.. With this man, however, Yang felt strangely flattered.

"A-Aha," She chuckled, scratching the side of her cheek. "That's...nice of you to say."

"Don't 'ya think a thing of it, miss." He replied. His eyes lit up as he seemingly recalled something. "Ah! Where are my manners?" A thick forearm laid itself upon the counter, "Welcome to Emer's Ember! I'm Emer, Emer Craith." His other hand came up to lazily stroke at his beard. "How can I help you today?"

Yang brought Ember Cecilia to bear, the bright yellow glinting in the lighting. The weapon had no superficial damage, the weapon appeared to be stuck in it's shot-gauntlet state.

"My sister said you might be able to help me with this..."

Emer's eyes lit up in recognition. "Oho!" he exclaimed. "I'd recognize this work anywhere. So you're the little tyke's sister, are ya?" From his pocket, he drew a pair of glasses from his breast-pocket. He then took a gauntlet into his hand before opening a compartment, revealing the mechanisms within. "She's a good kid, that one. Best weapon-maker of her age, that's for certain."

"Yep!" she exclaimed, letting 'p' out with a pop. "Normally, she'd just take a look at it for me, but she's pretty busy right now."

Emer simply hummed, peering closer into the mechanisms of the gauntlets. The two sat in silence for a moment before his eyes spied something in the machinery.

"Aha, here's your problem." he rotated the glove around, displaying the inner mechanisms to Yang. Within the machinery responsible for the sliding of her weapon, a small piece of ivory bone had lodged itself within the mechanisms, preventing the weapon from returning to it's inactive state. Really? How had she missed that?

"Doing a bit of hunting, eh?" He chuckled, rotating the gauntlet back around to fiddle with the jammed portion. "Really lodged the little sucker in there..."

"Do you think you can fix it?" Yang asked, hopefully. If it was just a jam, that meant she may be able to save some of her weekend!

"Something like this won't take but half an hour, miss." He smiled, taking the gauntlet into his hand. "I've got a piece in the back that'll have the little bugger out in no time. You just stay right there..."

Emer turned away from Yang, towards the back of the shop.

"Boy!"

A yelp originated from the back of the store, followed by the sound of metal clattering to the floor. More shuffling was heard, before Ekri's head poked around the corner.

"Stop yelling out of nowhere!" Ekri griped, "You made me drop the metal!"

"You dropped the metal!? Oh for the love of - Any dents are coming out of your paycheck, boy!" Emer answered back.

A small chuckle erupted from Yang's lips, and Ekri's face erupted into a fierce blush. His full form came out around the corner, and he made his way over to the counter.

"Whatever..." he grumbled. "What do you need?"

Emer grunted, gesturing to the gauntlet in his hand. "Got a piece that needs a bit of work."

Ekri raised an eyebrow. "You want my help?"

Emer chuckled, "Don't be silly, boy. I don't want your meaty fingers anywhere _near_ this work of art." He tilted his head towards Yang. "Just keep our lovely customer here company while I take care of this." Emer began to make his way to the back of the shop.

"Wha-? What about the metal?"

"That can wait," Emer answered. "I won't be long, miss." Yang nodded at him, settling herself down on a chair adjacent to the entrance as Emer made his way into the backroom. "Don't break my shit, boy."

"Well..." Yang began after a moment. "He seems….pleasant."

Ekri sighed, leaning on the counter. "He's actually in a good mood today, believe it or not." He flushed again. "I-I'm sorry about earlier," a hand came up to scratch at the back of his head. I didn't mean to stare...it's just, you have very pretty hair."

Yang blinked once, before grinning. " _Right._ My hair."

" _Okay, okay._ Yes, I was also staring at... _other_ places, but mostly your hair. You're easily the prettiest girl I've ever seen."

Yang blinked at what _seemed_ to be honest flattery. Really? Twice in one day? "You're pretty forward, aren't you big guy?"

"I just say what I'm thinking, is all. Also, it's Ekri."

"Ekri..." Yang said, her mouth seemingly processing the words. "What color is it taken from?"

"Ugh," Ekri groaned. "What's the big deal with that? Why's everything gotta be named after a color?

"You're…not from around here, are you?" Yang answered after a moment.

"Yeah," Ekri responded. "Born on the frontier, actually. It's that easy to tell?"

"Pretty much _everyone_ knows about the color-naming tradition," Yang explained. "My name, for example." She pointed to herself. "I'm Yang, Yang Xiao Long. Yang, means 'sun'."

"I wonder what _inspired_ that?" Ekri drawled. "Maybe the purple eyes?"

"Oh, _ha ha._ " She dryly said, a grin on her lips. "You're a funny guy too, huh?"

"Been known to crack a good joke every now and then," Ekri grinned back, placing a hand on the counter. Yang's eyes unconsciously placed themselves on the black lines trailing up his arm.

"Alright, I gotta ask – what's with the tattoos?"

Ekri raised an eyebrow, his own eyes roaming his skin. "My wha-? Oh, right. I forget I've got this myself, sometimes." A hand came up to the back of his head then, a sheepish look on his face. "They appeared on my skin when I got my semblance, and they've stayed with me since. Can't make em' go away, even if I wanted too."

"Ah," Yang answered. "That's actually pretty cool."

"Yeah..."

With that, an awkward silence descended between the two. Yang began to whistle a little tune, seemingly unaffected by silence; while Ekri was looking around the shop, almost nervously.

"So..." he started. "Those were some pretty cool gauntlets, are you a huntress?"

"In training," she answered. "I'm going to Beacon this year. Initiation is in three weeks."

"What?" Ekri responded, blinking in confusion. "Are you sure?"

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Positive. I've got the day memorized. Why?"

"Did I mishear him?" Ekri murmured. "Skoto said initiation was next week...oh he'll be _pissed_ if I wasn't listening."

"What was that? You're kinda murmuring, big guy."

"Oh, don't mind me, just remembered something my brother told me. So Beacon, huh? That's where me and my brother's are going, too."

"Wait, there are other giants walking around?"

"Ha no," Ekri answered. "My brothers and I aren't actually related, so they're not quite the herculean titan I am." Ekri made a show of himself, his form rippling underneath the apron and shirt.

 _Those muscles aren't superficial, that's for sure._

Yang laughed again, her eyes scanning the room. "Herculean, huh? Well alright then, Hercules, care to put your 'might' to the test?"

"What kinda test?" Ekri asked.

Yang pointed to a hulking hammer, propped against the wall behind the counter. The pole, and head of the hammer were a dark red color, with black cloth acting as a grip for the pole. The head was a thick cylinder, with three spikes protruding from the diameter of the striking surface. The other side of the hammer was curved, leading to another spike. The hammer was a great deal taller than Ekri himself by at least two feet.

"See if you can pick up that hammer, Hercules."

He snickered, "Didn't realize we were on a nickname basis, Sunny; but if you _insist,_ I guess I can show off a bit."

Ekri strode over to the hammer, and grasped the handle with one hand. Then, without any sign of exertion, Ekri hefted the piece up onto his shoulder. With a brash grin on his face, he turned back towards Yang.

"How unlucky, Sunny, out of all the weapons hanging in here you picked _my_ piece. Not that I couldn't lift any other weapon here, though."

Her eyes were wide with surprise, before a grin of her own stretched across her face; her eyes narrowing in determination.

Yang jumped up from her seat, "Yeah, okay – we're arm-wrestling _right now._ "

"Say what now?"

Ekri blinked and Yang had somehow crossed the room, seating herself at the counter with her arm in the ready-position. A strange fire had entered her eyes, while her hair seemed to lightly glow; radiating a warmth Ekri could feel from across the counter.

"Come on Hercules," she taunted. "Unless you're scared of lil' ol' me?"

"You actually look scary as hell right now, Sunny." Ekri answered back, grinning before he folded his arms against his chest, "But I don't arm wrestle for _nothing_ _._ What's in it for me?"

Yang smiled sweetly at that, but did not move. "Let's have ourselves a friendly little wager then, Hercules. If I win, you gotta pay for the tune-up of my baby back there."

"And if I win?"

" _If_ you win," Yang answered back. "I'll let you take me out on a date."

Ekri's eyes widened in surprise, his face flushing as he turned away nervously. Yang, seeing this, allowed a sly grin to cross her face.

"Come on~ Don't tell me you're getting nervous _now,_ Hercules _?_ "

"I-I'm not nervous!" Ekri stammered back. "You just caught me off guard, is all." Ekri sat himself at the counter, preparing his arm with a flush still present on his face. "A-Any guy would get caught off guard if a girl said that to them."

"Such a charmer," Yang teased. "There will be plenty of time for sweet-talk after you lose."

"I didn't think the day would ever come I met a person as confident as _I_ was." I mean seriously, what was she? A woman after his own heart? "But lo and behold," he said, placing his arm on the counter, grasping Yang's open hand. "Here we are...I almost feel bad for having to crush that confidence completely and utterly." Ekri grinned viciously, his embarrassment forgotten at the prospect of a challenge.

A similar grin crossed Yang's face. "Now _that_ is more like it."

No person needed to act as referee, the two instinctively knew when the other would start. Thus, it was a wordless countdown as the two stared each other down.

Then, with a tense of their muscles, they started.

The counter tensed, creaking under the weight of the two's contest. Both of their arms were shaking, veins popping out unnaturally while their fists formed constricted unbearably tight around each other. Though the two seemed at a stalemate, it lasted but a moment as Ekri's hand arced towards the surface of the counter. He glanced down at his own hand, in what seemed to be surprise; before beaming dangerously.

"I -urgh! - gotta _hand_ it to you – erk! You really don't screw around!"

"You do _puns_ too!?" Yang grunted out. What was he!? A man after her own heart!?

"I underestimated you, Sunny." Ekri ground out. "Let me take this a bit more _seriously."_

The lines trailing alongside Ekri's forearm began to alight with a deep red. His veins began even more pronounced, and he brought Yang back up to a complete stalemate. Her eyes trailed along his forearm, an expression of awe on her face. The two sat there, their expressions defiant, with their arms locked in a seemingly unbreakable stalemate.

The stalemate began to teeter, their two's faces scrunching up in effort, arms shaking against the weight of their own strength.

The stalemate was broken with the sound of metal impacting against flesh.

"Boy!" Emer's voice called out from the back room. "I told you to entertain the customer!"

Ekri head rose from the counter, a large welt forming on the back of his head. He glared hatefully down at the tool that had been viciously flung at his head, then back at the man who'd hurled it at him.

"What do you think I was doing?!"

"Well," Emer answered back sarcastically, while Yang stared on – wide eyed. "From this angle it almost looks like you were arm wrestling with her – but you wouldn't be doing that on my _brand new_ _counter_ , would you?"

Their eyes traveled downward to the counter in question. The surface had begun to splinter under the weight of their contest, narrow cracks forming on the surface of the wood. Ekri gulped nervously, his face paling quickly.

"A-Aha don't worry old man," he began nervously. "It's not _that_ bad."

"Ah, goddammit boy." Emer groaned. "If you were going to screw around with a little game – you should have _won_ at the very least."

Ekri became distinctly aware that the back of his hand was resting against the surface of the wood. His eyes came up Yang's, who appeared to be just as surprised by the fact.

"O-Oh," Yang began. "This is – how about we call this a draw, Hercules? On account of the wrench."

"Ugh..." Ekri rubbed at the welt forming on the back of his skull. "Nah...a deal's a deal Sunny. Hey, old man? Take the cost for the work on that piece out my paycheck, would you?"

Ember brought Ember Cecilia to the counter, placing the shot-gauntlets on the surface. Yang didn't take them, however. Her eyes were fixed onto the side Ekri's face, a strange expression on her face.

Emer grunted, "Sure, I already planned to do the same for my counter anyhow."

Ekri groaned, his head flopping down onto the counter. "That's cold, old man."

Emer chuckled, "You can stay after hours if you'd like, actually. Got something that needs doing – do it for me and I'll call us square. As for you, miss," he turned to Yang, motioning to Ember Cecilia. "Should be good as new. Give em' a try."

Yang nodded, her eyes snapping down to the gauntlets. She put them on silently, seemingly in a daze. Before she knew it, her familiar gauntlets were snug around her wrist. The mechanism slid fluidly into place, the barrel of the gun just barely poking out from the bright-yellow metal.

Yang eyed the gauntlet happily, before looking at Emer with a grin.

"It works perfect! Even a little better than before, actually!"

"Took the liberty of applying a bit of machine lubricant – it should keep things moving smooth for a good while."

"I can't thank you enough," Yang supplied happily.

Emer nodded, a slight smile on his face. "Your patronage is appreciated, miss. Glad to be of service." He turned towards Ekri. "Okay boy, you get back to work now. That shipment isn't gonna move itself, you hear?"

"Uh huh," Ekri grunted, rising from the counter.

"Hey." Yang interjected. Ekri turned back, one eyebrow raised.

"We're gonna have a rematch sometime, understand?" She pointed a finger at him, grinning. "This time without the wrench."

Ekri blinked, before his face stretched into a wide grin. "Hah, sure, whatever you say." He turned away, waving as he walked into the back room. "I'll see you around."

 _Yang Xiao Long, huh?_

* * *

Alva grimaced, pulling at the collar of his suit. He understood looking professional – but was such a... _tight_ suit really necessary? As Alva attempted to loosen the confines of his attire, the phone perched on the desk began to ring. Eyeing the caller I.D, Alva could not suppress the second grimace that rose to his face. The lobby of the hotel was completely empty, barring a few wayward employees. Alva's hand, despite his hesitance, picked up the phone and swiftly brought it to his ear.

"Greetings Mr. Felix, how can I help you this even-"

"You're god damn maids left _hair_ all over my room!" Alva fancied his face was slick with sweat, while his rotund cheeks were inflamed red with anger. As he spat out the words, he took deep heaving breaths.

"I am terribly sorry, sir." Alva answered back. "Allow me to fetch a vacuum, and I will have someone come to clean that for you right away."

"No! It's already been polluted! I want a new room!"

Alva hid his sigh, sitting down at the counter while pulling up the list of available rooms from the computer behind the counter.

 _Please please please please plea- ughhhh_

"I'm...sorry sir, but we there are no rooms available for you to transfer too. I can still send someone up with a vacuum if you'd li-"

"What!?" he screeched, and Alva could imagine the spittle flying from his mouth. "You mean I have sleep in that room where those _filthy faunus_ _were_?! They left my room a _mess_ with their disgusting _hair._ How am I suppose to sleep in here?!"

 _Oh my – I don't think I've ever wanted to hit someone so badly._

"I-I'm terribly sorry, sir." Alva ground out, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "But every other hotel in the room is booked, I'm afraid. If you would like, I can have someone come to clean the hair, but I cannot find another available room for you."

"Bah! See to it that you do, _young man._ What is this?" he muttered to himself in disgust, fully aware he could still be heard. "A hotel for _vermin?_ " The man cut off the connection without another word.

 _If I'm careful, they'll never find the bod-_

A feminine cough interrupted his train of thought, " _Excuse me,_ but some service would be _nice_." Alva's eye's rose to the woman. Alva almost felt irritated by her tone, but quickly remembered she would allow him respite from the sound of Mr. Felix's voice, and the other haughty aristocrats - most of them terrible racists.

As his eyes met hers Alva got his first look at his would-be-savior. The girl was pale skinned with blue eyes and long white hair pulled back into an off-center bun tail and pinned with an icicle shaped tiara. She wore a white dress, which faded to a light blue as it reached the hem of her skirt. Though, the dress appeared to be stained with... _mud?_ Even her face, which housed a crooked scar, appeared to covered in what must have been a layer of dirt. Alva's eyes did not linger on the scar – no, his eyes were stuck on the symbol adorning her dress. He knew it well, as most huntsmen did, the Schnee Dust Company symbol.

 _And management neglected to inform me of this why?_

"Ah, Miss Schnee." Alva began. "I was not informed you had arrived – one moment please." He would play it off as though he had known, for the sake of management, he supposed. Alva waved over a co-worker, a short man with brown hair. "I hate to bother you, but would you mind taking a vacuum up to Mr. Felix's room? It appears he has a problem with...a few errant hairs, left behind by the cleaning crew."

The man appeared sympathetic to Alva's plight, opting only to nod, before rushing off to complete his task. Alva glanced to the entrance, only to see that his vision street outside had been completely blocked by dozens of men and woman holding cameras. They were being held back by the security of the hotel, but additional a few men dressed in white suits appeared to have joined in keeping the paparazzi at bay. His eyes also caught two elderly-looking men pushing a cart stacked to the limit with luggage as he brought his attention back to the girl before him. Alva wordlessly began to bring up the check-in screen, his fingers swiftly gliding across the keyboard.

"I apologize for the tardiness, Miss Schnee." Alva intoned, his voice belaying a plastered warmth. "Your suite has been ready for some time, if you'd follow me." The Schnee is question merely sighed tiredly, and only then did Alva notice just how exhausted the girl looked. It must have been quite the ordeal getting here, with camera-clad hounds no doubt following her every step.

Alva then eyed the weary butlers following her, an unspoken sympathy erupting between the two parties. "Miss, if it would be of no trouble to you – I'd like to relieve your butlers of their duties."

Weiss glanced towards him, one eyebrow raised. "If you're certain, I suppose I've no problem with it."

Alva smiled lightly, turning to the two men. "Gentlemen, we've suites prepared for you as well – your scrolls have already been updated with the pass code."

The two allowed their shoulders to sag for a moment, before their posture was composed mere seconds later. They shook hands, and the second one drew him in close.

"Thank you, young man." Alva noticed the man smiling behind his mustache; his wrinkles creasing as he did. "A word of advice," he whispered. "She is in a rather foul mood – make haste when accompanying her to her room."

"Of course," Alva answered back in a similarly hushed tone, before allowing his voice to turn back to normal.

"Thank you for you hard work, gentlemen. I'll take it from here." Alva turned to Weiss, a smile on his face. "Shall we go, Miss Schnee? The elevator is this way."

Weiss opted out of answering, merely following behind Alva as he pushed the luggage cart towards the elevator. As the two reached the elevator, Ekri pressed the call button.

"Hmm?" he muttered after a moment, eyes glossing over the unlit button. His hand reached out to the button once more, pressing more firmly this time. The button lit a moment after, the gentle hum of the elevator descending. Alva sighed in relief as the doors opened, before pushing the cart inside of the spacious room. Weiss entered a moment later, her eyes drooping tiredly. Alva pressed the button for the top floor, and the doors slid shut a moment later.

With that, an awkward silence descended between the two. Weiss did not seem to register the silence, her eyes fluttering shut, only to snap open a moment later.

"...How are you enjoying your stay in Vale, Miss Schnee?" Alva spoke suddenly. He supposed he ought to try to occupy her tired mind, just until he could drop her off at her hotel room.

"Hmm?" Weiss muttered tiredly. "I'm sorry, did you say something?" A yawn escaped her lips. "I'm afraid I wasn't paying att-ahh!"

A sudden jolt from the elevator cut Weiss off mid-speech, while Alva grunted in surprise. The light from the elevator flickered, before cutting off completely; shrouding the two in darkness. All movement stopped, and the two sat in silence for a moment, before the emergency light began to blink rapidly. While a ringing came through a device attached to Alva's belt. Alva sighed, drawing the scroll from his belt, before answering the call.

"Alva, are you there?!"

"Yes, manager. I'm here. Miss Schnee is not hurt, but it seems out elevator has malfunctioned - including the emergency power."

A few moments passed before the voice came through again. "...Miss Schnee is here!?"

Alva sighed. "Yes, Miss Schnee is here. I was taking her to her suite when out elevator...malfunctioned."

"Stay right where you are!" As opposed to going….where? "We'll get maintenance right on that! Please, do apologize to Miss Schne-"

"Oh, it….like...breaking up." Alva blandly stated.

"What was that Alva? You're breaking up." Alva ended the call, placing it back into his pocket.

"Alright then," Alva muttered, turning back towards Weiss. The girls eye was twitching, and he could see her fists were tightened – shaking at her sides, almost like a ticking bomb.

"Ah...are you alright, Miss Schne-

Weiss nearly shrieked in anger. "Oh this is just _perfect!_ First, my flight is delayed by savages trying to _blow up the plane!_ Then, not to be outdone of course, flocks of _nevermore_ assault the plane, forcing an emergency landing – not in Vale of course, that'd be too _convenient!"_

"M-M-Miss Schnee, please try to cal-"

Weiss continued on, uncaring of the Alva's attempts to placate her. " _Noooo,_ we land five miles from the gates, and I have to walk through mud, and dirt, and _thorns_ in nothing but _heels!_ And of course, the moment I get here, there's a _mob_ waiting at the front door! And to top it all off, I get to my hotel and the _elevator breaks down and now I'm stuck in the dark oh go-!"_ Her own words were cut off by her own breath, and Alva idly realized she had begun to hyperventilate.

"Miss Schnee." Alva stated forcefully. She did not respond, her breath coming out in short gasps. Alva channeled his semblance, allowing a bead of light to form his hand. His tattoos around his forearm and hand became washed with a silvery glow, shrouding the two in dim light. Alva crossed the distance between the two, inching his way around the luggage cart. As he drew closer, he saw that Weiss had her eyes shut tight, however; as the light illuminated her face more brightly her eyes fluttered open, and she seemingly became entranced by the bright light. Her breathing still escaped in shallow, rapid breaths, however.

"Miss Schnee, you need to try to calm down."

"I – can't." She gasped, looking at him

Alva eyed the girl helplessly as she stood there, braced against the wall, taking in short gasps. What could he do? He'd never been in this situation befor-

 _Yes I have._

"Start with your breathing." Alva suggested gently. "With me, like this, in and….out. I have a brother who suffers from something just like this, you know? Out now, slowly – if you can. When we were younger, he'd wake up from these terrible fits – still does, some days. In again, you're doing excellent. He'd wake up with these wide eyes...out. Thrashing all around like someone had been trying to hold him down. In, just like that. Actually gave me a black eye once," Alva chuckled gently, getting lost in his narrative. "He still apologizes for it to this day, and I've lost count of how many times I've forgiven him. Out. We'd both go sneak down to the fridge for a glass of milk, and on the day's we woke up the other two we'd make an adventure out of it. ' _Quest for the cream of legends'_ is what'd we call it. Khai – our caretaker, always caught us, though, without exception. He'd lecture us for all of about thirty seconds, before giving us all glasses of milk anyway; so while we never _completed_ the quest, as passing without waking Khai was one of the parameters, we never quite _failed_ it either."

Weiss breathing leveled out, and she brought a hand to her heart, as the last of her panic fled from her. With one last shuddering breath, she completely calmed herself. The two stood there, in the cramped corner, dimly lit by Alva's semblance.

"...Thank you." Weiss said. "That was...you were helpful."

Alva smiled. "Glad to be of service. Now then," he said, turning his attention to the maintenance panel of the elevator. "Allow me to try and figure this out. The emergency power should have kicked in by now. Will you be alright, Miss Schnee? I can leave my semblance on, if it is the dark you are afr-"

"I am _not_ afraid of the dark." She answered back, almost angrily. Alva blinked, before sighing.

"Of course, Miss Schnee. My apologies, I did not mean to insinuate anything."

Silence descended as Alva unscrewed the panel covering the circuitry of the elevator.

"Do you have...experience in electronics?"

Alva paused, removing the panel from the electronics, bringing them to bear.

"I was only...formally introduced to them fairly recently – computers and electronics for that matter, but I like to think myself a quick learner. Though it has only been six months, I've adapted well to use of most electronic systems, and have collected quite a wealth of knowledge on the subject..." Alva's eye twitched as he stared into the elevator's maintenance panel. "None of which, I will be needing." A hand came up to slap his face. "Some fool forgot to replace the dust crystals last month – that must be why the elevator and lights have shut off." Alva sighed, slumping down to the side of the elevator. "That doesn't do us any good to know, though. Only maintenance knows where the replacement crystals are."

"Ah, I may be of some assistance there." Weiss muttered tiredly, she began to rifle through her luggage. "Myrtenaster only uses powdered dust, but _I_ buy the dust in it's crystalline form to…." she yawned, and Alva felt himself needing to yawn just listening to the girl. Even in her speech, it sounded like he was dead on her feet. "….to save money."

"To save money?" Alva replied, assisting her by stacking suitcases she'd searched through beside himself. "Forgive me, but I can't imagine the Schnee family would run out of funds anytime soon."

Weiss scoffed, fixing a small glare on his form as she paused in her search. "Just because we have an...admittedly large amount of funds, does not mean we don't know what it is to be frugal. Dust is expensive, the process of collecting dust is expensive."

"So it is..." Alva responded with a sigh, while Weiss opened another suitcase.

"Aha!" she exclaimed. "Here we are." She took hold of a small tube, and inside was a small, yellow dust crystal. It's structure was thick near the base, and got more spindly with multiple tendrils reaching towards the top of the tube. Weiss took careful hold of the tube, before reaching to hand it to Alva. As Alva reached for it, Weiss coughed into her hand.

" _Ahem, y_ ou...do know how to handle this correctly, right? It may not be in it's more volatile, powdered form – but it is still remarkably dangerous."

Alva laughed. "No need to worry, I'm training to be a huntsmen. I've been instructed on the handling of dust." This would be his first time ever _using_ dust, but Alva felt that was better left unsaid.

"A huntsmen, you say?" Weiss responded, carefully handing him the crystal. "Then, you plan to go to Beacon?"

"Yes, I'm quite excited for initiation." Alva began to removed the used crystal, while carefully and slowly removing the new crystal from it's container. This looked to be quite complex, but perhaps here this goes here? "We've still a bit of preparation to do, but I'm sure come Friday, my brothers and I will be ready."

"Friday?" Weiss said, confusion in her voice. "You must be mistaken, initiation does not begin for another three weeks."

"What?" Alva exclaimed, fiddling with the inside of the panel, trying to fit the crystal into the mechanisms. "Are you certain?"

"Of course I'm certain," Weiss huffed. "I will be attending the academy as well, of course."

"Strange…" Alva muttered. "I'm almost _positive_ I heard him say it was _this_ Friday."

"Well 'he' is mistaken. The initiation date can be found on their website, and I've a letter of acceptance giving the exact date – three weeks from now."

"Well..." Alva responded, irritation working itself into his voice. "I'll have to ask him about it when I get us out of this elevat- aha!" With a small click, the base of the dust crystal was wedged into place. The lights of the elevator flickered to life, immersing the two in complete light. Weiss sighed in relief, as the lights illuminated their forms. Alva found himself staring, a single eyebrow raised as he regarded her curiously.

" _...now I'm stuck in the dark oh go-!"_

 _She is afraid of the dark._

No, no. That couldn't be, fear of the dark is something children fear; not would be huntsmen. The girl had experienced an emergency landing, walked through a forest infested with grimm, been hounded by mobs of paparazzi – surely the dark was but a mere inconvenience at this point?

"I-I know what you're thinking." Weiss stated in a clipped tone. "As I said, I am not _afraid_ of the dark. I simply do not _like_ it, is all."

"Naturally." Alva responded. What sense was their to argue? If she said she wasn't afraid of the dark, then she wasn't afraid. _He_ certainly wasn't going to argue.

"It simply makes me...uncomfortable, you see." Did she want to talk about it?

"You don't have to explain yourself to me, Miss Schne-"

"Weiss." She interrupted. "I mean – call me Weiss."

"...As you wish. My name is Alva, and it is splendid to make your acquaintance." he supposed it was appropriate, so long as none of his co-workers were around. "As I was saying, you don't have to explain yourself to me, Weiss. A broken down elevator seems to be the least of your problems – someone wanted to blow up your plane?"

"The White Fang," Weiss responded with vehemence in her tone. "That is of no surprise to me, unfortunately, it is quite obvious that _lot_ have no fondness for me _or_ my family."

"So I've heard," Alva responded neutrally. "Along with the idea that the company involves itself with...questionable business partners, and morally gray employment practices."

Weiss dangerously raised a single eyebrow. "I beg your pardon?"

Alva put his hands up placatingly, "I did not claim they held any legitimacy, only that they circulate the rumor mill. I have only been aware of the companies existence for a few short months – I am certainly not credible to speak on the nature of it's practices."

A soft ding cut off any retort Weiss had to make. The elevator slowly opened, revealing a pristine hallway. "Ah, we've reached your floor, Mis...Weiss." Alva quickly re-stacked her luggage atop the cart before pushing it out into the hallway. "Your suite is this way."

Weiss silently followed behind, a pensive look on her face. The trip to her room was mostly silent, the only noise being the click of her heels on the solid floor. The silence was suffocating, a far cry from the previously amiable atmosphere surrounding the two. Perhaps he'd offended her with his comment? He hadn't mean to imply anything untoward, but the more he thought about the words – the further he wished to stick his foot in his own mouth. Implying that the company took part in nefarious and shady practices? That was simply _rude_ – regardless of the credibility of such a statement.

Alva did not like being rude.

As the two reached her room, Alva idly realized they'd rented the penthouse suite. The door was carved from oak, and was ornate and decorated with extravagant vinyl. Alva stopped before the door, and paused for a moment before speaking.

"Weiss, about my earlier comment," Alva said. "I did not mean to offend, it was rude and foolish of me to say." He inclined his head, pressing his chin to his chest. "You have my sincerest apologies."

Weiss appeared surprised for a moment, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "You apology is accepted," Weiss huffed, a small pout on her face as she turned her face to the side. "It _was_ rather rude..."

"Yes," Alva laughed lightly. "Yes it was, and I am very sorry."

Alva smiled at her. "Allow me to deposit your luggage, and then I'll leave you be to get some rest."

Weiss, despite her exhaustion and outward exterior; managed a small smile of her own. "I could certainly do with hot shower..."

"The pass code for the door should already have been sent to your scroll."

After a moment of tinkering with her scroll, the door clicked open, and Alva pushed the luggage inside. Calling the room spacious would be an understatement, as it reached a great deal taller than any other room within the hotel – Alva was certain of that. A king size mattress had been immaculately arranged, with two ornate, wooden dressers on either side. Alva saw another doorway leading off to the right of the room, but paid it no heed; for his eyes were fixed on the view that could been seen through the ridiculously large windows.

The setting sun, with it's dazzling hues of red, orange and yellow captivated Alva. Idly he heard Weiss release a small gasp at the sight, her heels clacking against the solid floor as she strode closer to the window, leading to a balcony.

"Marvelous..." Alva breathed, before he blinked away his awe. He had ought to leave her to it, shouldn't he? She'd had a rather trying day, indeed.

"Will that be all, Weiss?" Alva asked. She spun around, as if she'd forgotten he'd been there. She wordlessly nodded, before turning back to the view.

"Do not hesitate to call if you require something else." Alva stated pleasantly, before turning away to leave the room.

"...Alva?" Weiss called after him.

"Yes?"

"You said you'll be going to Beacon as well, is that correct?"

Alva raised any eyebrow. "Indeed – along with my brothers, of course. Why do you ask?"

"Ah...no reason." She answered quickly, and did not face him as she spoke. Alva stood in the room for a moment longer, a confused expression sewn onto his face.

"T-That will be all, you may go now." She said.

Alva flushed, "O-Of course. Enjoy your stay, Weiss."

Weiss did not respond, and Alva quickly made his way out of the room. As the door closed behind him, he allowed a small sigh to escape past his lips; bracing his back against the door. His small moment of respite was interrupted by the sound of his scroll buzzing in his pocket. A groan escaped his lips as he brought the device to bear.

"Alva, we've got maintenance on their way to the elevator. How are thin-"

"I've repaired the elevator myself. Weis….Miss Schnee has been escorted to her room and is resting comfortably."

A moment passed.

"Why didn't you tell me! Now maintenance is going there for no-"

"What was that? You're breaking up. I'll just come to you." Alva disconnected the call before any voice could come through the scroll, before he placed it back into his pocket. A tired sigh escaped his lips as he made his way back to the elevator, before a small grin replaced it almost immediately.

 _Weiss Schnee, huh?_

* * *

Blake Belladona sat comfortably in a lounging chair, reading a book with a blank cover _,_ while Tukson sat at the counter; rifling through a large stack of books. Though the two were silent – aside from the occasional sound of a page being flipped – it was not an uncomfortable silence, on the contrary, it was the most comfortable Blake had been in a great deal of time.

 _Though, deserting a terrorist organization is an uncomfortable ordeal._

Ah, it was almost like the start of a bad joke. Two ex-terrorists are reading in a bookstore, when in walks a -

Blake's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the front door bell chiming softly, and swift footsteps approaching. Her eyes widened, her muscles tensing as the footsteps approached. She _knew_ it had been foolish to leave Gambol Shroud in the back room, but she hadn't expected such a direct attack, nor that they would catch up to her so quickly – she had been so _careful_ in covering her tracks, too!

"Welcome to Tukson's book trade, home too every book under the sun!"

Tukson was putting up an act for the intruder, to lull him into a false sense of security; to give her a chance to strike. She'd expected this, prepared for it every sleepless night for the past week, this _fool_ wouldn't stand a chance. All she had to do wa -

"Do you have the latest edition of X-ray and Vav!?" Lavi panted out, heaving for air.

…..Dispatch this young boy asking for a comic.

A small, unnoticeable sigh of relief escaped from her lips. Was she really so on edge?

Tukson chuckled, "You're in luck kid, only had one copy left for sale. It's in the back, but let's see some Lien first eh?" He rested his elbow on the counter, scratching the side of his face with three fingers – a meaningless gesture to normal people.

For ex-terrorists, however.

 _Possible threat. Eliminate?_

For this...boy? Really?

The White Fang had created a great deal of code through body-language. Blake knew the responses perfectly – she'd been using them for as long as she could remember. Two came to her mind almost instantly, yes or no?

Blake sighed, relaxing into her lounging chair. Languidly, she grasped the page of her book with two fingers – her thumb and forefinger, and turned the page.

 _No._

The boy was almost bouncing on his heels, as he fished for what Blake assumed to be his wallet – she couldn't see him clearly from her peripherals. From this angle, she saw a dark mop of hair splaying out at, seemingly, every angle. His clothing was unremarkable, a simple pair of ratty jeans and a wrinkly white t-shirt. Blake shifted herself, placing her back against the crook of the couch to face towards him. She saw him place a few lien on the counter, and briefly saw Tukson's form vanish towards the back of the store.

Immediately, she took note of the...tattoos? Perhaps, but none like Blake had ever seen – even amongst the hardened recruits within The Fang. Thick lines ran along the length of his forearm, disappearing under his sleeves, only to reappear at the base of his neck. Perhaps this is why Tukson had thought him a threat?

No…

Blake could see it now, it was somewhat difficult with the tattoos, but if she looked closely enough…

Scars, far too many for a boy who sounded so young, spanned the entire length of his arms. Most were small, maybe an inch in length. While others wrapped around the entire length of his arm, as if he'd been bound in barbed wire. She certainly saw why Tukson though him a threat, now. With so many scars, he'd doubtlessly seen countless battles, his form being marred with each successful encounter.

"Ah..um, is there something on my…?" He asked nervously, his other hand coming up to pull his arm over.

Blake blinked once.

Had she been staring?

"Oh...it's the scars, isn't it?"

Blake laid her eyes on the boys face, idly realizing that she _had_ been staring. Only now did she realize the tattoos curved around each side of their face, connecting at his forehead; forming an arc at the top of his head. His eyes were just as dark as his hair, almost as if someone had set onyx into his pupils. Blake considered how to answer for a moment.

"Yes. It's the scars. You have…a lot of them."

Lavi stared at her for a moment then, surprise on his face and eyes.

"You're the first person to admit it." Lavi said slowly, tasting the words.

Before Blake could even think of a response, Tukson came back from the back room with the comic in hand.

"It's all yours, kid." He said, handing him the comic.

Lavi held the comic reverently, as if it'd fall apart at the slightest mishandling. A happy grin pulled at his lips, while his eyes almost sparkled as he stared down at the comic in his hands. A soft buzzing interrupted his happiness, however, the origin of said buzzing coming from his pocket. With one hand he fished out an older scroll model – three years old, if Blake recognized the make.

Lavi answered the incoming call and pressed the scroll to his ear.

"Hey Skoto!"

Blake barely made out the sound of the caller's voice, even with her above-average hearing.

"Working late again?" Lavi sighed in disappointment, but not surprise. "How late?"

Did he really not mind talking with her and Tukson here?

"What?! Why can't they get someone else to close the store? You _always_ close the store."

This was getting awkward.

"We won't be able to take Maddie out, like we wanted. This will be the third week in a row."

Okay, now this was _really_ getting awkward.

"Okay!" Lavi suddenly said, with a cheerfulness that didn't fully reach his voice. "I'll just have Ekri go with me. Have a good day bye!" He clicked the scroll of then, without waiting for a response. Then, with that same smile on his face; he turned towards Tukson, who had been eyeing the boy awkwardly.

"I hate to be a bother," Lavi said. "But would it be okay if I read here for a little while? Just until," he paused to look at the clock. "Around seven?"

Tukson scratched his chin for a moment, "Well, seeing as you're a paying customer – I don't mind." He pointed a finger in warning. "Just don't disturb anybody, and you can stay as long as you like."

"Thank you, sir."

"I'll be in the back. Give me a shout if you need anything."

How kind of Tukson. It seems the boy was having a bit of family trouble, maybe? It certainly sounded like it, at the very least.

Wait.

Where was he going to sit? The only chair was right across from her.

"Is it okay if I sit here?" he asked, suddenly much closer than he was a moment ago. Not even five feet from her, actually. Blake nearly leapt out of her skin. When had he moved? More importantly, how had she not _noticed?_

"I'm sorry!" he said very quickly. "I didn't mean to surprise you."

"...It's okay," Blake said, her voice bland. "You didn't surprise me." Yes he had. "And yes, it's okay if you sit there. Just...keep the noise down? I'm trying to read."

"Of course!" he said happily. "You won't even know I'm here, promise." With that, he sat himself down across from her – the only thing separating the two being a small coffee table.

Surprisingly, Lavi actually did keep his promise. Aside from an occasional snicker of laughter, or a hum; it was mostly silent.

Until he finished his comic, that was.

He placed the finished comic atop the coffee table, before drawing himself up to sit cross legged on the chair. The shifting and tossing of his form grating Blake's ears in a way so perfectly terrible, she cringed behind her book. If Lavi noticed, he said nothing, and fell silent once more – his pose not that unfamiliar to one of meditation.

With the noise dying down, she found herself being being drawn back into the narrative.

" _It's too late for me...you have to run, before I lose myself."_

" _No! No, no! I won't! Just...please, you have to keep breathi-"_

Blake felt her eye twitch as the sound of Lavi's deep breathing assaulted her ears. She peered above her book, annoyance brushing at her mind. Did he really have to breathe so loudly?

…

He was glowing.

Well, it wasn't quite _glowing,_ that implied it was bright of some kind. No, the boy across from her was...oh, what was the opposite of glowing? _Darkening?_

The lines streaking along his body had turned even more vapid, somehow. Seemingly drawing in and absorbing the light around him. If she were certain of the fact he had _not_ walked into the bookstore with line-shaped holes in his arms – Blake may have been inclined to think so looking at them now.

"What...are you doing?" Blake couldn't stop herself from asking. It was simply too foreign and weird to be left in the _dark._

…

That was awful. Why would she think that?

Lavi eyes opened slowly and he regarded the girl across from him curiously. "...Am I doing something?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Seriously? Didn't he notice?

"Your…tattoos are...glowing?"

Lavi gasped, "They _are!?_ " He looked down at himself in excitement. "Oh my gosh _they are!"_

 _Seriously?_

"I guess that means I'm finally getting the hang of this!" Lavi exclaimed.

"The hang of what, exactly?" Blake asked, confused.

"Oh, sorry!" Lavi scratched his temple, embarrassed. "That must have looked pretty weird." Yes it did. Now explain, please. "That was my semblance, I suppose."

"Your semblance...makes you glow?"

Lavi chuckled, "No, that's not it. That just happens when I 'activate' it."

"Ah...I see." Blake wouldn't ask him what his 'actual' semblance was. She knew better than to ask such a personal, and intimate question to a complete -

"My actual semblance lets me...ah, 'take' stamina from my opponents I guess? I still don't really get it _completely_."

...And to think, she once thought this oblivious _boy_ was someone from her old organization sent to _kill_ her. She didn't even know his _name_ for goodness sake – and yet he revealed one of the most unique and private aspects of himself to her.

"Ah, my name is Lavi, by the way. Nice to meet you!"

Blake felt a headache coming on. At least she knew his name now, she supposed. "I'm Blake. Blake Belladona. It's...nice to meet you too."

"Blake..." Lavi said, testing the word against his tongue. "Well Blake...do you mind if I ask what you're reading?"

Yes. Yes she did, because she wanted to get back to reading it. But...perhaps it wouldn't hurt to indulge him? Just a little. "It's a story about a knight who makes a deal with an ancient evil to win an impossible war for his kingdom."

"Oh...I think I've read it..."

She doubted that.

"It's...uh, _Tempered Heart,_ right?"

She doubted it less.

"Yes, actually." Blake responded, surprise in her voice. "I'm surprised you've read it, it's not as popular as other books in it's genre."

A happy smile placed itself on Lavi's face. "I'll ready anything in the fantasy section. Have you read it before or should I watch out for spoilers?

"I've read it once or twice before." She responded.

"Ah, good then." Another smile. He sure smiled a lot, didn't he? "I don't have to be afraid to ask, what did you think of the ending?"

Ah…the ending.

"It was a good ending, if a little obvious." She said. "That was the point though, I think. The knight kept on showing signs of losing himself to the evil spirit, so we all expected him to possessed in the end; and that suspense only made it all the more painful when he finally was. You wanted him to fight it, to rise above it; but he never could. At the very least, he was able to do what he had set out to; even if he had to sacrifice himself for it."

Blake filled her lungs at the end of her short speech. Goodness, had she really said all that? How long had it been, since she'd said so much at once? Every interaction she'd had for as long as she could remember was short – answers of yes or no, sometimes even short grunts sufficed. It almost felt...nice, to talk about something normal; like _books._

"Ah, I don't really feel the same." Lavi answered back, sheepishly. "That's a really solid explanation, though."

Oh?

"Why do you say that?" Blake responded, resting the open book face-down on her thigh.

"Well...it's just I think it was stupid to accept the deal in the first place."

"What? But without that power he wouldn't have been able to stop the invading country. Everyone he cared about would have _died_."

"You're not wrong," Lavi answered back. "Not at all, in fact I couldn't agree more. But what he _became_ to stop the invaders, that wasn't worth it."

"Wasn't worth it?" Blake responded quickly. "He stopped the invaders. He saved his friends, his family, his country. How is that not worth it?"

"He lost himself, in the end; sacrificing everything that made him...him. The good, noble hero turned into nothing more than a monster. Sure, it might have been necessary; maybe his only _real_ choice, even." Lavi leaned back. "That doesn't make the decision any less stupid from his perspective, though. It cost him everything, while everyone else just reaped the benefits of his sacrifice."

"He gave himself for everything he had ever known." Blake responded adamantly. "Even if he couldn't live to see it, he was okay with it; he was a hero."

"He was a _martyr,"_ Lavi responded. "A hero would have done it without losing himself, without having to resort to evil."

"Well, unfortunately," Blake answered, just a touch of frustration in her voice. "That's not how it works all the time. Sometimes, when you're pushed around without anyway to fight back – you have to do whatever it takes to push back."

"It shouldn't ever cost you pieces of yourself." Lavi answered back, almost sadly. "If he hadn't taken the power, he would have died – but at least he would have died as he was."

That was...it couldn't...he shouldn't….

"I disagree," Blake answered, after a moment of contemplation. "He only did what he thought was right, the real villain here is the invaders. If they hadn't attacked in the first place, he wouldn't have ever had to do that."

Lavi stared at her for what felt like hours, even if it was only a few moments. Finally, just as Blake thought he was going to call her a name, or storm up out of his seat and leave – angry that he could not get her to see his way.

He smiled.

"Looks like we'll just have to agree to disagree, then." He said, any trace of heat or frustration gone from his voice – though Blake idly realized he never _had_ shown any sort of anger or spite in his tone. Throughout the entire discussion, his tone had been light and conversational, barring the one moment he had almost sounded _sad_ at the fictional characters decision.

The two spoke about the book for a great deal of time. Throughout each and every aspect of the book, however; they could not find a single thing they agreed on – throughout the entire book. From the romance, to the actual story, to the character's decisions; no common ground could be made.

"...You know what?" Lavi finally asked, the same silly grin on his face. "There is _something_ we can both agree on, I think.

Blake raised a single eyebrow. "Oh? And what is that?"

Lavi put his hands behind his head, leaning back into the chair while he stared up at the ceiling. "It was one heck of book! Really underrated if you ask me." Lavi glanced back towards the clock, his eyes widened as he registered the time. "Ah dang it! I lost track of time!" Blake looked back at the clock herself, seeing that she too had lost track of time; as the clock read half past seven. "Oh Maddie is gonna _kill_ me." He got up out of his seat, gathering his comic in a rush. "It's been really fun talking with you Blake, but I gotta run!"

"Wait." Blake said, almost urgently.

"Yeah?"

"You've unlocked your semblance, that would make you a huntsmen, right?"

"Got that right," Lavi responded happily, his rush forgotten for a moment. "Me and my brothers are going to Beacon! Can't wait for initiation on Friday!"

Friday? Wasn't it three weeks from now? Oh well, she wouldn't hold him up.

Blake offered him a small, lipped grin. Her first smile throughout the entire conversation "Then I'll see you there."

"What!" Lavi exclaimed in surprise. "You're a huntress?! That's so cool! I should have known, you totally have the look of on- oh no."

The sound of a scroll buzzing in his pocket cut off the rest of his speech, and the boy paled once he laid his eyes on the caller I.D.

"I really gotta go now!" Lavi cried, nearly sprinting for the exit. "I'll see you around Blake!" he called as his form disappeared through the door, taking off down the street.

As his feet collided with the sidewalk, dodging past pedestrians with surprising agility, Lavi had only one thing on his mind.

 _Blake Belladona, huh?_

* * *

Skoto sighed as he bent down to pick up another plain, brown, packing box. Skoto was more thankful for aura now than he probably ever had been – can you imagine how much back pain it was saving him from right now? He'd been stacking boxes upon boxes for nearly...oh, maybe ten hours by now? And to think, he still had two more to go. This had to be illegal, right? Twelve hour works days?

Ah, but maybe that was just the exhaustion talking. Skoto hadn't slept well the night before, only getting a few measly hours of rest before his strange dreams roused him. That was of no surprise to him, however, it had been that way for as long as he could remember. The dreams, more vivid and real than they ought to be, came to him every night; each giving more insight into that _phantasmal_ woman.

…

There would be time for those thoughts later, for now, he had stacking to finish. Just a few more boxes, and he would _finally_ be allowed to go ho-

Skoto paused at the sound of crashing glass, originating from what he thought to be the front of the store.

 _Oh, what now?_

Skoto paused to unsheathe the knife he kept sheathed at the back of his waist, before rushing over to investigate the noise. As he pushed open the door, he immediately took note of a man dressed in a white suit, with orange hair and a top-hat. A cigar hung from his lips, as he stared in disdain towards something outside of the store. Surrounding him were a plethora of men dressed in black suites, with red ties.

 _A robbery. That is Roman Torchwick, but what is he staring at?_

Skoto moved silently along the isle, and peaked around the corner to look out the smashed windo-

Only for his eyes to lock with Ruby Rose's.

For but a moment, Skoto felt as if all of time had frozen. In her hands was a massive scythe, standing many sizes taller than herself, though she appeared to be able to wield it easily – as if it were but a feather in her hands. Silver eyes that Skoto had seen hundreds, nay, _thousands_ of times before shined bright against the dark of night. Eyes that had cried when she scraped her knees on walks through the woods. Eyes that lit up when a fresh plate of cookies was placed before her. Eyes that shimmered with excitement when you told her stories of being a huntress.

Skoto felt tears pricking at his eyes – for what reason? He could not say.

No, that was a lie. A lie to preserve yet another lie. He knew why, he'd always known why. In the back of his mind he knew the truth, despite how he denied it and hid it always under desperate assurance. _They are just dreams, surely? This woman...she cannot be real, right?_

 _Wrong._

 _She was real. It was all real._

 _No, that cannot be._

 _If she wasn't real, then who is this? Who is this girl?_

 _I don't know._

 _Do you think it coincidence? Will you delude yourself, even when faced with fact?_

 _If that woman is real - if everything about her is real._

 _Then who am?_

 _Am I Skoto? Or that woman?_

Skoto was uncertain of many things, at this moment. Something - _Someone_ he'd always thought nothing more than dream had proven to be real. _Objective_ proof stood here, in front of him - the resemblance was far too uncanny to deny. This girl, _little rose,_ as she was called in his dreams, stood here in front of him; a great deal older than when he'd last seen her. It did not even feel as though he was looking into the eyes of a stranger, he gazed at her and was overcome with the desire to embrace her. To take her into his arms and tell her just how proud he was. How strange, to be overcome with this...this _love_ \- for a complete stranger, no less.

Ah, but was she truly a stranger? Skoto felt as though he'd known her his whole life - he _had_ in a way. Both her, and her sister. In this moment of uncertainties, Skoto was _sure_ of only _one_ thing.

She would not fight alone, this night.

* * *

 _ **And scene.**_

 _ **Holy moly this was tough to get out. Since this the first time my characters are interacting with people in the main cast, I wanted to take an especially long edit to make sure I got it right. I'm at a point where I can be satisfied, but if you see an inconsistencies or errors - feel free to tear me apart. That's why I'm here, after all. I want to improve more than anything else.**_

 _ **Also, I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone that took the time to review. It really does inspire me to keep trying and improving my writing.**_

 _ **Well, that should about do it for this one. I'll see you next time.**_

 _ **Peace.**_


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